The House of Mattei was one of the most powerful noble families of Rome during the Middle Ages and early modern era, holding high positions in the papal curia and government office. The family amassed significant art collections under art enthusiasts such as Ciriaco Mattei.
The Mattei gave eight Cardinals to the Catholic Church, among them Girolamo Mattei (1586), Gaspare Mattei (1643), Alessandro Mattei (1803), Mario Mattei (1832), Lorenzo Girolamo Mattei (1833) and (as late as 1875) Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei. The founder of one powerful branch of the Mattei was Giovanni Giacomo Mattei. [1]
Mattei family lines reportedly went back to an early Roman family, the Papareschi, and their ancestors included Pope Innocent II (1130–1143). In the 1350s the family moved to the Rione Sant Angelo, and they eventually built six residences in the block called the Isola Mattei. The Mattei established themselves in politics and banking and were closely connected to the politics of the Church; later to its military conquests.
Though they lived in the Roman Ghetto, the historic Jewish quarter, they were Roman Catholic. When Pope Paul IV decided to build a wall around the Ghetto in 1555, at the invitation of the Roman Jews who wished to be isolated on the Sabbath, the Mattei were given a key to the gate by the Jews. [2]
In Rome the Mattei owned five palazzi in the rione, or quarter, of Sant'Angelo (together they formed the so-called "isola dei Mattei": see Palazzo Mattei), and one in Trastevere. Moreover, they owned Villa Celimontana in the rione Celio. The family assumed control over the bridges closest to their ancestral palace during the papal interregnum, levying charges on various types of traffic, including the Jews who lived in the nearby ghetto when burying their dead outside the city.
The purchase of the territory of Giove in 1597 [3] entitled the Mattei to the title Marquis di Giove (raised in 1643 to a dukedom) in addition to their older title of Nobile Romano. Other Mattei titles included Duke of Paganica and Marquis di Belmonte.
In 1580–1585, Muzio Mattei commissioned one of the most famous fountains in Rome, the Fontana delle Tartarughe (Turtle Fountain) in front of his residence.
House of Mattei family tree during the 16th and 17th centuries: [4]
Alessandro Mattei | Emilia Mazzatosta | Muzio Mattei | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ciriaco Mattei | Giulia Matuzzi | Cardinal Girolamo Mattei | Asdrubale Mattei Marquis di Giove | Costanza Gonzaga | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Giovanni Batista Mattei | Alessandro Mattei | Girolamo Mattei Duke of Giove | Luigi Mattei Marquis di Belmonte | Paolo Mattei | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Like many noble Italian families of the period, sons were often named in honour of their predecessors. It the case of the Mattei, the same christian names are given many times over. The Alessandro Mattei listed in the final branch of the family tree above, though sources suggests he undertook an ecclesiastic career, is not Alessandro Mattei (1744–1820). Ironically though, the latter Alessandro was also nephew to a Luigi Mattei; born in 1702 [5] who later became a cardinal (not the military Luigi Mattei listed above).
Though direct relations are not clear, biographies of contemporaries Alessandro Mattei (1744–1820), Lorenzo Girolamo Mattei (1748–1833), Mario Mattei (1792–1870) and Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei (1811–1883) suggest they were all related.
The Roman Ghetto or Ghetto of Rome was a Jewish ghetto established in 1555 in the Rione Sant'Angelo, in Rome, Italy, in the area surrounded by present-day Via del Portico d'Ottavia, Lungotevere dei Cenci, Via del Progresso and Via di Santa Maria del Pianto, close to the River Tiber and the Theatre of Marcellus. With the exception of brief periods under Napoleon from 1808 to 1815 and under the Roman Republics of 1798–99 and 1849, the ghetto of Rome was controlled by the papacy until the capture of Rome in 1870.
Trastevere is the 13th rione of Rome: it is identified by the initials R. XIII and it is located within Municipio I. Its name comes from Latin trans Tiberim, literally 'beyond the Tiber'.
The papal conclave held from 18 to 20 February 1878 saw the election of Vincenzo Pecci, who took the name Leo XIII as pope. Held after the death of Pius IX, who had had the longest pontificate since Saint Peter, it was the first election of a pope who would not rule the Papal States. It was the first to meet in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican because the venue used earlier in the 19th century, the Quirinal Palace, was now the palace of the king of Italy, Umberto I.
Colonna is the 3rd rione of Rome, identified by the initials R. III and located at the city's historic center in Municipio I. It takes its name from the Column of Marcus Aurelius in the Piazza Colonna, the rione's main square.
Sant'Angelo is the 11th rione of Rome, Italy, located in Municipio I. Often written as rione XI - Sant'Angelo, it has a coat of arms with an angel on a red background, holding a palm branch in its left hand. In another version, the angel holds a sword in its right hand and a scale in its left.
Borgo is the 14th rione of Rome, Italy. It is identified by the initials R. XIV and is included within Municipio I.
Castro Pretorio is the 18th rione of Rome (Italy), identified by the initials R. XVIII, and it is located within the Municipio I. The rione takes its name by the ruins of the Castrum Praetorium, the barracks of the Praetorian Guard, included in the Aurelian Walls.
Giacomo della Porta (1532–1602) was an Italian architect and sculptor, who worked on many important buildings in Rome, including St. Peter's Basilica. He was born at Porlezza, Lombardy and died in Rome.
The Palazzo Mattei di Giove is the most prominent among a group of Mattei houses that forms the insula Mattei in Rome, Italy, a block of buildings of many epochs.
Filippo Barigioni (1690–1753) was an Italian sculptor and architect working in the Late Baroque tradition.
The Bishops-Assistant at the Pontifical Throne were ecclesiastical titles in the Roman Catholic Church. It designated prelates belonging to the Papal Chapel, who stood near the throne of the Pope at solemn functions. They ranked immediately below the College of Cardinals and were also Counts of the Apostolic Palace. Assistants at the Pontifical Throne, unless specifically exempted, immediately enter the Papal nobility as Counts of Rome.
Ciriaco Mattei was an Italian nobleman of Rome and of the House of Mattei and one of the most prolific art collectors of his time.
Girolamo Mattei was an Italian Cardinal from the House of Mattei.
Ruggero Luigi Emidio Antici Mattei was an Italian Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Latin Patriarch of Constantinople from 1866 to 1875, and was elevated to the cardinalate by Pope Pius IX in 1875.
The Fontana delle Tartarughe is a fountain of the late Italian Renaissance, located in Piazza Mattei, in the Sant'Angelo district of Rome, Italy. It was built between 1580 and 1588 by the architect Giacomo della Porta and the sculptor Taddeo Landini. The bronze turtles around the upper basin, usually attributed either to Gian Lorenzo Bernini or Andrea Sacchi, were added in either 1658 or 1659 when the fountain was restored.
Luigi Mattei was an Italian military General and Marquis de Belmonte. During the 17th century he commanded troops loyal to the papal armies of Barberini Pope Urban VIII and Pamphili Pope Innocent X during the Wars of Castro.
Girolamo Mattei was an Italian nobleman of the House of Mattei and Duke of Giove.
Muzio Mattei was an Italian nobleman of the House of Mattei. He helped the Mattei rise to prominence by supporting political and cultural initiatives of the Pope and the Church in Rome.
The Palazzo Rusticucci-Accoramboni is a reconstructed late Renaissance palace in Rome. Erected by the will of Cardinal Girolamo Rusticucci, it was designed by Domenico Fontana and Carlo Maderno joining together several buildings already existing. Due to that, the building was not considered a good example of architecture. Originally lying along the north side of the Borgo Nuovo street, after 1667 the building faced the north side of the large new square located west of the new Saint Peter's Square, designed in those years by Gian Lorenzo Bernini. The square, named Piazza Rusticucci after the palace, was demolished in 1937–40 because of the erection of the new Via della Conciliazione. In 1940 the palace was dismantled and rebuilt with a different footprint along the north side of the new avenue, constructed between 1936 and 1950, which links St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican City to the center of Rome.