Palazzo della Nunziatura Apostolica, Papal diplomatic palace on Via Toledo, Naples, Italy.
Palazzo della Nunziatura Apostolica is a palace located on Via Toledo in Naples that once served as a papal diplomatic residence. The building retains features from the 16th century and later received neoclassical modifications in the 1800s.
Pope Sixtus V had a house and land on Via Toledo bought in 1585 and turned into a palace for his ambassador to the Kingdom of Naples; the archbishop of Amalfi, Giulio Rossino, carried out the purchase and expansion. In 1656 the sewers beneath the street burst, reportedly blocked by plague victims thrown into them, and the nunciature stood uninhabitable until Alexander VII had Bonaventura Presti restore it in Baroque style in 1667. Vincenzo Lenci's 1826 neoclassical remodelling stripped Presti's facade decorations but spared the 16th-century portal. The nuncio Pietro Giannelli fled in September 1860 as Garibaldi entered Naples.
Two nuncios based here later became popes: Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, who became Innocent X, and Emilio Bonaventura Altieri, who became Clement X. The 16th-century portal from the time of Sixtus V survived the 1826 neoclassical remodelling that stripped Bonaventura Presti's Baroque facade.
The building sits along Via Toledo, a main street running through central Naples. Visitors should know that the building now houses a shop and may not be accessible from the inside for viewing.
Two nuncios who served here later became popes: Giovanni Battista Pamphilj, nuncio in Naples, was elected Innocent X, and Emilio Bonaventura Altieri became Clement X. The palace housed the Holy See's ambassador to the king of Naples, and later of the Two Sicilies, from 1585 until 1860.
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