Webinar: The House of Colonna: Prestige & Patronage in Rome by CICERONI Travel

About this Lecture series

The princely House of Colonna has occupied a position at the fulcrum of Rome’s history from their recorded origins in the eleventh century to the present day. No other aristocratic family has enjoyed such a place at the heart of the religious, political and cultural life of the city. From brutal warring in medieval Rome against their bitter rivals the Orsini family, the Colonna were elevated through the church as counts, cardinals and princes. It was Oddone Colonna, who ruled as Pope Martin V (1417 – 1431), who ended the Western Schism in 1417, and returned the Papacy to its former home in Rome. The family were given titles, benefices and estates; marriages were made, and international alliances were secured. As the Colonna grew in influence their power as skilled diplomats and military leaders bolstered their prestige as arguably some of the greatest patrons of the arts in Rome.

James Hill returns to present two lectures on The House of Colonna: Prestige & Patronage in Rome, 26 & 27 January . In the first he will explore the family’s origins, Pope Martin V’s role and legacy in the story of Rome’s renaissance, and the family’s place in the wider struggles which convulsed Italy and the continent in the sixteenth century. In the second lecture he will introduce important members of the family, both the past and recent, exploring the magnificence of Rome’s greatest palace and private art collection, Palazzo Colonna.

Lecturer

James Hill

James Hill is our long-standing Italian, US and Caribbean tours director. British born, he has been resident in Italy for over 28 years where he studied politics. An authority on travel and culture in Italy, he lives near Rome and has a background in travel writing and television production where he worked on around sixty cultural programmes and documentaries on Italy.

Series of Two Lectures

Thursday 26 January 2023 at 11am GMT

Lecture 1 - Collapsam Urbem Restituit: Rome’s Restoration

Thursday, January 26, 2023 · 11:00 AM GMT

The Colonna family were well-established in Rome by the thirteenth century. Members had been created cardinals as the family accumulated properties across the city and increased its territories in the surrounding countryside. Oddone Colonna was elected Pope at the Council of Constance in 1417 as Martin V Colonna. On his return to Rome (the Papacy had been absent in Avignon for many decades) he found the small city in a ruined state, its economy moribund and heavily depopulated. He quickly re-established law and order and promoted an ambitious plan to restore Rome’s churches and urban infrastructure. In short, Pope Martin laid the foundations of the restoration and ‘renaissance, of Rome.

In the following century the Colonna played pivotal roles as the intricacies of the Italian Wars, as papal intrigue and the wider context of international affairs bedeviled the relationship between the papacy and the Holy Roman Empire. Indeed, the family’s growing prestige culminated in the figure of Marcantonio II Colonna who, as naval commander, led the papal fleet at the victorious Battle of Lepanto in 1571 when a coalition of several Christian navies (under the overall command of Don John of Austria) defeated the Ottoman Turks.

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Friday 27 January 2023 at 11am GMT

Lecture 2 - The Colonna Family: Courtiers & Connoisseurs

Friday, January 27, 2023 · 11:00 AM GMT

From the early sixteenth century the military, diplomatic and civilian duties of the family were increasingly complimented by cultural exchange and artistic patronage. The poetess Vittoria Colonna was a spiritual friend and confidant of Michelangelo. In the early seventeenth century Prince Filippo I Colonna began the transformation of the family palace into a noble residence, enriched throughout the century by the leading architects and artists of the day. Italian and foreign artists including Antonio Tempesta, Pietro da Cortona, Annibale Carracci, Jan Breughel the Elder, Paul Brill and Gaspar van Wittel (also known as Vanvitelli) all worked for the family, their art still magnificently displayed in the family’s private home, Palazzo Colonna.
During Rome’s more recent heady transition from capital of a papal state to headquarters of the Savoy monarchy, and now the embodiment of the Italian Republic, the Colonna have continued to embellish their palace, a model of modern adaptation. At the same time, they have also continued to fulfill a variety of pubic roles as ambassadors, mayors of Rome and Prince Assistants to the Papal Throne - roles which to this day act still as a bridge linking this illustrious family to both church and city.

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