Palazzo Serristori, Renaissance palace near Vatican City, Rome, Italy
Palazzo Serristori is a Renaissance palace located between Via della Conciliazione and Borgo Santo Spirito, with its main facade facing east toward Via dei Cavalieri del Santo Sepolcro. The building now houses the Scuola Pontificia Pio IX, serving as an educational institution for approximately one thousand students.
Ambassador Averardo Serristori commissioned the construction of this palace in 1565, which later served as the Tuscan embassy to the Holy See until 1821. Following the decline of its diplomatic function, the building was repurposed for educational use.
The name comes from Averardo Serristori, the Tuscan ambassador who built the palace in 1565. Since 1929 it has housed the Scuola Pontificia Pio IX, founded in 1859; its sports society Fortitudo 1908 saw its football section merge in 1927 into A.S. Roma, and its amateur theatre company counted actors Renato Rascel and Amedeo Nazzari among its members.
The building sits close to St. Peter's Basilica and is easily located, but functions as an active school campus and is not open for general sightseeing. Visitors should note that interior areas are not accessible during school hours.
On 22 October 1867, revolutionaries Giuseppe Monti and Gaetano Tognetti hid two barrels of gunpowder in a storeroom beneath the palace; the blast destroyed an entire wing and killed 23 Papal Zouaves, nine of them members of the corps band, plus four civilians. Both men were captured, condemned and beheaded by guillotine.
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