Palazzo Branconio dell'Aquila

Palazzo Branconio in a drawing by Giambattista Naldini (around 1560)

Description

Unfortunately, the palace is lost and only drawings tell us about its architecture. In the early 15th century, the clerical Giovanbattista Branconio dell'Aquila charged Raphael with the erection of his modest palace between the Vatican and Castel Sant'Angelo. The richly decorated facade with five window axis shows ground floor stores (the so-called botteghe), niches between the piano nobile windows and several eagles, the crest of Branconio. A courtyard with a loggia was reached by the central portal, a stairway in the left wing gave access to the piano nobile, which, according to a reconstruction, only had five rooms.

Literature

Frommel, Ch. L.: I palazzi di Raffaello: come si abitava a viveva nella Roma del primo Cinquecento, in: Architettura alla corte papale nel Rinascimento, Milano 2003, pp. 240-255

© 2005-2006 Jan-Christoph Rößler