Speaker: Corey Brennan, Rutgers University

The focus of this talk is an exciting new (2010) discovery of archival material that sheds unexpected light on centuries of Boncompagni Ludovisi family history, including the pontificates of Popes Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572-1585, who introduced the Gregorian calendar) and Gregory XV Ludovisi (1621-1623, who canonized the first Jesuit saints), and the development of the famed Villa Ludovisi on the Pincio hill in Rome.

The family’s Villa Ludovisi, an enormous private enclave within the walls of Rome with a large and significant collection of ancient sculpture and Greek and Roman inscriptions, was for two and a half centuries a “must see” stop on the Grand Tour. It attracted as visitors Winckelmann, Goethe, Stendhal, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Henry James—to name just a few of those who have left their detailed written impressions. However in 1885 the greater part of the Villa was redeveloped to form the luxurious business and residential district centered around Rome’s Via Veneto.

The main palace of the Boncompagni Ludovisi has since become the headquarters of the US Embassy in Rome. However the family’s secondary palace of the Casino Aurora—with its unique oil-on-plaster ceiling by Caravaggio and large frescoed rooms by Guercino—remains wholly intact today as the private residence of the family’s head, Prince Nicolo’ and his wife Rita Boncompagni Ludovisi. In August 2013 and September 2014 Brennan coordinated the first comprehensive videography of the Villa grounds and its spectacular interior spaces, footage that also is featured in his wide-ranging lecture.