Palazzo Besso, Renaissance palace in Largo di Torre Argentina, Italy

Palazzo Besso is a Renaissance palace on Largo di Torre Argentina in Rome with four inner courtyards. The building displays ornate portals, decorative windows, and cornices that exemplify traditional Roman architectural elements.

The Rustici, a Roman merchant family, had their houses here in the 15th century; as they fell into debt, management passed to Marcello Vestri, who commissioned renovations from master builder Battista Mola. In 1606 Francesco Rustici sold the palace to Cardinal Ottavio Paravicini, who enlarged it toward Via dei Cestari with works attributed to Domenico Paganelli and possibly Carlo Maderno. The Strozzi bought it in 1649 and held it for two centuries.

The palace's name recalls three families: the Oliati bankers, the Florentine Strozzi who owned it from 1649 for two centuries, and Marco Besso, who bought it in 1905 and made it the seat of the foundation he created in 1918. The Strozzi called it Palazzo Strozzi alle Stimmate, after the neighbouring church of the Stimmate.

The building opens to visitors through guided tours organized by the Marco and Ernesta Besso Foundation offered once or twice monthly. It is best to check ahead for tour dates since these are the only way to see the historic rooms and museum collection.

Leone Strozzi established a museum in the early 1700s that assembled natural specimens, ethnographic objects, gems, coins, marble pieces, and an Egyptian sistrum. This collection reveals how wealthy Romans expressed their fascination with exotic and ancient artifacts.