ITALY MEETS BRAZIL IN PALAZZO PAMPHILJ
In Rome, Brazil and Italy are closer than ever: the Eternal City houses the tangible and imposing souvenir of a long bilateral relationship between the two countries, a prestigious palace that contains memories of Rome’s history interwoven harmonically with the present and future of Brazil. The magnificent Palazzo Pamphilj reigns over one of the world’s most evocative and iconic plazas, Piazza Navona, in the heart of the Capitol, where it serves as the Brazilian Embassy in Italy; at once a diplomatic focal point and an essential element of the cultural and social fabric of the city.
The palace was begun in 1630 by a cardinal, Giovan Battista Pamphilj, with the aim of confering an architectural unity on the various family properties he had acquired on the southwest corner of Piazza Navona. Ten years later, in 1640, Cardinal Pamphilj was elevated to the Papal throne, taking the name Pope Innocent X, and during his pontificate, the power, prestige and wealth of the Pamphilj family increased massively, and his sister-and-law, the formidable and ferocious social climber Olimpia Maidalchini, an illustrious inhabitant of the palace, acquired a power rarely seen in Rome for a woman since the early Roman Empire.
Male Romans loved to hate “Donna Olimpia” for her avarice and especially for her power over the Pope, and gave her various malicious nicknames, such as “the Popess’” or la Pimpaccia, which translates roughly as “woman full of sins.” A mutilated ancient statue known affectionately as Pasquino on the tiny eponymous square to the side of Palazzo Pamphilj happened to be the most famous of the “talking statues” in Rome,
Palazzo Pamphilj, seat of the Brazilian Embassy in Italy, is both a focal point from a diplomatic standpoint as well as an essential element of the cultural and social fabric of the city.