Palazzo Cenci-Bolognetti, Baroque palazzo on Piazza del Gesù, Rome, Italy

Palazzo Cenci-Bolognetti stands at Piazza del Gesù 46 in the Pigna district. Its flat facade has a pale stone ground level with a central entrance and balcony, flanked by rusticated stonework and windows with dark metal grilles. Above the balcony hang an Italian tricolour and a European Union flag; the ochre upper floors have tall rectangular windows framed in pale stone, some with pediments, separated by flat pilasters, and a balustrade runs along the roofline.

The Petroni family, present in Rome since the 15th century, bought the original palace on 11 December 1563. In 1737 Count Alessandro Petroni decided to enlarge it and eight years later commissioned Ferdinando Fuga to design the facade on Piazza del Gesù. After Alessandro's death in 1771 the palace passed to his daughter Maria Isabella, wife of Girolamo Cenci Bolognetti, whose name it took. In 1955 Princess Beatrice Fiorenza left it to the University of Rome La Sapienza to found an Italian Pasteur Institute.

The palace carries the name of the Cenci Bolognetti, princes of Vicovaro, who inherited it through Maria Isabella Petroni, married to Girolamo Cenci Bolognetti. Ferdinando Fuga placed roses, the heraldic symbol of the Petroni, at various points on the facade. Since 1955 the building has belonged to the Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti – Istituto Pasteur, and one wing is still used by the party founded in 2002.

The palace stands at Piazza del Gesù 46 in the Pigna district, a short walk from Largo di Torre Argentina and the Pantheon. The entrance on the piazza is the one to look for; the facade faces the square and the church of the Gesù opposite. Much of the building is occupied by the Fondazione Cenci Bolognetti and offices, so visitors see it from the street rather than inside.

Ferdinando Fuga placed roses, the heraldic symbol of the Petroni, at various points on the facade he designed. Look for them around the portal and the window frames rather than at eye level on the rusticated ground floor.