The House of Massimo is one of the great aristocratic families of
Rome
Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, renowned for its influence on the politics, the church and the artistic heritage of the city.
Legendary origins
The Massimo family is sometimes referred to as one of the oldest noble families in Europe. According to the Augustinian historian
Onofrio Panvinio
Onofrio Panvinio (; 23 February 1529 – 27 April 1568) was an Italian Augustinian friar, historian and antiquary who was the librarian to Cardinal Alessandro Farnese.
Life and work
Panvinio was born in Verona. At the age of eleven, he ...
(1529-1568) in his work "De gente Maxima" of 1556, the family descends in the male line from the ancient
Gens Fabia or "Maximi" of
republican Rome and from
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus
Quintus Fabius Maximus Verrucosus (), surnamed Cunctator ( 280 – 203 BC), was a Roman statesman and general of the third century BC. He was Roman consul, consul five times (233, 228, 215, 214, and 209 BC) and was appointed Roman dictator, dict ...
(c. 275 BC – 203 BC), called ''Cunctator'' ("the Delayer").
When asked by Napoleon (with whom he was negotiating the
Treaty of Tolentino
The Treaty of Tolentino was a peace treaty between Revolutionary France and the Papal States, signed on 19 February 1797 and imposing terms of surrender on the Papal side. The signatories for France were the French Directory's Ambassador to the H ...
) whether the family descended from Fabius Maximus, the then-Prince Massimo famously replied: "Je ne saurais en effet le prouver, c'est un bruit qui ne court que depuis douze cents ans dans notre famille" ("I cannot actually prove it, it's a rumour that's only been running for twelve hundred years in our family").
The Massimo / Massimi family is also said to have provided two
pope
The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...
s to the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
, both
saints
In Christian belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and denomination. In Anglican, Oriental Orth ...
:
Pope Anastasius I
Pope Anastasius I was the bishop of Rome from 27 November 399 to his death on 19 December 401. Retrieved 4 March 2012.
Anastasius was born in Rome, and was the son of Maximus. He succeeded Siricius as pope and condemned the writings of the Al ...
(reigned 399–401), who denounced the
Origenist heresy, and
Pope Paschal I
Pope Paschal I (; died 824) was the bishop of Rome and ruler of the Papal States from 25 January 817 to his death in 824.
Paschal was a member of an aristocratic Roman family. Before his election to the papacy, he was abbot of St. Stephen's monas ...
from the Massimi branch of the family (reigned 817–824), who resisted the Frankish Kings and was involved in one of the earliest attempts to
Christianise Scandinavia.
The occasional attribution of the two canonized Popes Anastasius I and Paschal I to the Massimo family as well as its descent from ancient Roman senators is likely to be mythical in nature.
History
The current family's better documented history traces back to a Massimo who flourished c. 950 AD,
and is identified in the person of Leo de Maximis by 1012 (The Surname Massimi derives from de Maximis). Thereafter the family grew in influence among the Roman barons, and played a considerable part in the history of the city in the
Middle Ages
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...
, producing numerous cardinals, ambassadors, and civil and military leaders.
Massimo Massimi (died 1465) served as Rome's chief
conservator, a post held by several subsequent members of the family.
Luca Massimo (died 1550) was granted the title "Baron of Pisterzo" in 1544 and Fabrizio Camillo Massimo of the Arsoli branch of the family became "Marquis of Roccasecca" in 1686.
[
Two branches descended from sons of Angelo Massimo (1491–1550), who became first Lord (''Signore'') of Intrafiumara in 1520; that of Tiberio, whose descendants became Dukes of Rignano and Calcata, and died out in 1907, and that of Fabrizio Massimo (1536–1633), who obtained the lordship of Arsoli in 1574. During the War of the Spanish Succession his descendant Giovanni Camillo Massimo (1659-1711) was sent to protect Italy's interests in the north. In 1711, Giovanni Camillo was executed by Spain and his youngest son Francesco Giovanni Massimi (1696–1745) took asylum in the commune of Massimino, which by 1713 declared sovereign independence. Massimiliano Camillo Massimi (1770–1840) of the latter line was granted the title Prince of Arsoli, by ]Pope Leo XII
Pope Leo XII (; born Annibale Francesco Clemente Melchiorre Girolamo Nicola della Genga; 2 August 1760 – 10 February 1829) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 28 September 1823 to his death in February 1829. ...
and Prince for all descendants in 1826. His grandson, Carlo Camillo (1836–1921), 3rd Prince of Arsoli was additionally made a Roman prince in 1854. His son Francesco Camillo, Prince Massimo and Prince of Arsoli (1865–1943) became "Sopraintendente Generale delle Poste Pontificie", and his grandson Leone, Prince of Arsoli and Prince Massimo (1896–1979) became Duke di Anticoli-Corrado in 1904 by avuncular cession.
Another grandson of the 1st Prince of Arsoli, ''Don'' Filippo Massimo (1843–1915), inherited the fortune and adopted the marital surname of the Prince's eldest daughter ''Donna'' Giuseppina Massimo (1799–1862), who was the widow and heiress of Ottavio Lancellotti, Prince of Lauro (1789–1852).[ Although the senior line of ''Don'' Filippo's descendants retains the Lancellotti surname and title, his younger son ''Don'' Luigi (1881–1968), resumed the paternal name in the combination of "Massimo Lancellotti", and his descendants flourish, having been granted the Italian title "Prince of Prossedi" in 1932.
Although ancient and powerful, the post-medieval Massimo were not a sovereign family, yet repeated heads of the family and other family members contracted a remarkable number of marriages with members and descendants of reigning royal dynasties into the late 20th century, consistently so after the marriage in 1765 of Papal postmaster Camillo Francesco Massimo (1730–1801), Marquis of Roccasecca, to Barbara Savelli-Palombara (1750–1826), the last of the great line of the Papal ]Savelli family
The House of Savelli (de Sabellis in documents) were a rich and influential Roman aristocratic family who rose to prominence in the 13th century. The family included several popes, senators and condottieri. They dominated the city in rivalry wit ...
and heiress to a large fortune.[
Their son the first Prince of Arsoli, Massimiliano Camillo Massimo (1770–1840), married Princess Cristina of ]Saxony
Saxony, officially the Free State of Saxony, is a landlocked state of Germany, bordering the states of Brandenburg, Saxony-Anhalt, Thuringia, and Bavaria, as well as the countries of Poland and the Czech Republic. Its capital is Dresden, and ...
(1775–1837) in 1796, daughter of Xavier of Saxony, Prince of Poland and Lithuania, a younger son of King Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III (; – "the Saxon"; ; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was List of Polish monarchs, King of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as List of rulers of Saxony, Elector of Saxony i ...
.[
Massimiliano's son, the 2nd Prince of Arsoli Camillo Vittorio Massimo (1803–1873), married '' HRH'' Princess Maria Gabriella of ]Savoy-Carignano
The House of Savoy-Carignano (; ) originated as a cadet branch of the House of Savoy. It was founded by Thomas Francis, Prince of Carignano (1596–1656), an Italian military commander who was the fifth son of Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy. ...
[ (1811–1837] in 1827, second cousin of Charles Albert of Sardinia, Charles Albert, King of Sardinia whose son, King ]Victor Emmanuel II
Victor Emmanuel II (; full name: ''Vittorio Emanuele Maria Alberto Eugenio Ferdinando Tommaso di Savoia''; 14 March 1820 – 9 January 1878) was King of Sardinia (also informally known as Piedmont–Sardinia) from 23 March 1849 until 17 March ...
(1820–1878), became the first King of a united Italy in 1861.
The third Prince of Arsoli, Camillo Carlo Massimo (1836–1873) wed ''Donna'' Francesca Lucchesi Palli (1836–1923), the daughter of Ettore Lucchesi-Palli, 8th Duke della Grazia. Through her mother, Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Sicily (1798–1870), the daughter of the Neapolitan King Francis I of the Two Sicilies
Francis I of the Two Sicilies (; 19 August 1777 – 8 November 1830) was King of the Two Sicilies from 1825 to 1830 and regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1806 to 1814.
Early life
Francis was born the son of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicili ...
(and widow of Charles X of France
Charles X (Charles Philippe; 9 October 1757 – 6 November 1836) was King of France from 16 September 1824 until 2 August 1830. An uncle of the uncrowned Louis XVII and younger brother of reigning kings Louis XVI and Louis XVIII, he supported th ...
's assassinated heir, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry),[ Francesca was a half-sister of the ]Legitimist
The Legitimists () are royalists who adhere to the rights of dynastic succession to the French crown of the descendants of the eldest branch of the Bourbon dynasty, which was overthrown in the 1830 July Revolution. They reject the claim of t ...
pretender to the French throne Henri, Count of Chambord
Henri, Count of Chambord and Duke of Bordeaux (; 29 September 1820 – 24 August 1883), was the Legitimist pretender to the throne of France as Henri V from 1844 until his death in 1883.
Henri was the only son of Charles Ferdinand, Duke ...
.[
They had two sons, Francesco Massimo, 4th Prince of Arsoli and Prince Massimo (1865–1943), who married ''Donna'' Eleonora ]Brancaccio
Brancaccio is the 12th district of Palermo, in Sicily, Italy. It is located in the south-eastern outskirts of the city and is included in the 2nd municipal division.
The area of the district appears today as densely urbanized, despite the fact th ...
(1875–1943) in 1895 (daughter of Salvatore Brancaccio, Prince of Triggiano),[ and Fabrizio Massimo (1868–1944) who in 1895 had been ceded the tiles of Prince of Roviano and Duke of Anticoli-Corrado, and who in 1897 married '' HRH'' ]Infanta
Infante (, ; f. ''infanta''), also anglicised as "infant" or translated as "prince", is the title and rank given in the Iberian kingdoms of Spain (including the predecessor kingdoms of Aragon, Castile, Navarre, and León) and Portugal to the ...
Beatrice of Bourbon (1874–1961), daughter of the Carlist
Carlism (; ; ; ) is a Traditionalism (Spain), Traditionalist and Legitimist political movement in Spain aimed at establishing an alternative branch of the Bourbon dynasty, one descended from Infante Carlos María Isidro of Spain, Don Carlos, ...
pretender to the French and Spanish thrones, Carlos, Duke of Madrid.[ and first cousin of then-reigning Victor Emmanuel III of Savoy, King of Italy.][
The Massimo tradition of ]royal intermarriage
Royal intermarriage is the practice of members of ruling dynasties marrying into other reigning families. It was more commonly done in the past as part of strategic diplomacy for national interest. Although sometimes enforced by legal requirem ...
continued when, in 1989, Prince Carlo Massimo (born 1942) married ''Doña'' Elisa Osorio de Moscoso y Estagna (born 1946), daughter of Pedro, Duke de Montemar (1904–1986), whose paternal great-grandmother was the Infanta Luisa Teresa de Borbón-Cadiz, daughter of the Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain
Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain (10 March 1794 – 13 August 1865) was an Infante of Spain and the youngest son of Charles IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma. He was a brother of Ferdinand VII, and the uncle and father-in-law of Isabella I ...
(1824–1900) by her marriage to José Osorio de Moscoso, Duke de Sessa.[
The princely family is represented by Fabrizio Prince Massimo, 7th Prince of Arsoli and Triggiano (born 1963), and by Stefano Massimo, Prince of Roccasecca dei Volsci (born 1955), whose heir is Prince Valerio Massimo (born 1973). On the 21 May 2009 Prince Valerio reached the summit of Mount Everest.
]
Significance
The family were major patrons of the arts, with the brothers Pietro and Francesco Massimo acquiring fame by protecting and encouraging the German printers Arnold Pannartz and Konrad Sweynheim
Arnold Pannartz and Conrad Sweynheym were two printers of the 15th century, associated with Johannes Gutenberg and the use of his invention, the mechanical movable-type printing press.
Backgrounds
Arnold Pannartz was, perhaps, a native of Prague ...
, who came to Rome in 1467, where the first printed books in Italy were produced in the Massimo Palace. In the 17th century Cardinal Camillo II Massimo was famous as the patron of both Velasquez
Velázquez, also Velazquez, Velásquez or Velasquez (, ), is a surname from Spain. It is a patronymic name, meaning "son of Velasco".
References to "Velazquez" without a first name are often to the Spanish painter, Diego Velázquez.
Notable peo ...
and Poussin
Nicolas Poussin (, , ; June 1594 – 19 November 1665) was a French painter who was a leading painter of the Classicism, classical French Baroque style, although he spent most of his working life in Rome. Most of his works were on religious and ...
.
The Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome was built by the celebrated Sienese architect Baldassare Peruzzi
Baldassare Tommaso Peruzzi (7 March 1481 – 6 January 1536) was an Italian architect and painter, born in a small town near Siena (in Ancaiano, ''frazione'' of Sovicille) and died in Rome. He worked for many years with Bramante, Raphael, and l ...
by order of Pietro Massimo, on the ruins of an earlier palace destroyed in the sack of Rome in 1527. The curved façade is built on and dictated by the foundations of the stands for the stadium odeon of the emperor Domitian
Domitian ( ; ; 24 October 51 – 18 September 96) was Roman emperor from 81 to 96. The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus, his two predecessors on the throne, he was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Described as "a r ...
. The interior ceilings and vestibules are elaborately ornamented with rosettes and coffered roofs. The entrance ceiling is decorated with a fresco by Daniele da Volterra
Daniele Ricciarelli (; 15094 April 1566), better known as Daniele da Volterra (, ), was a Mannerism, Mannerist List of Italian painters, Italian painter and sculpture, sculptor.
He is best remembered for his association with Michelangelo. Sev ...
, who represented "Life of Fabius Maximus". The chapel on the 2nd floor was a room where the 14-year-old Paolo Massimo, son of Prince Fabrizio Massimo, was recalled briefly to life by Saint Philip Neri
Saint Philip Neri , born Filippo Romolo Neri, (22 July 151526 May 1595) was an Italian Catholic priest who founded the Congregation of the Oratory, a society of secular clergy dedicated to pastoral care and charitable work. He is sometimes refe ...
on March 16, 1583. The interior of the palace is open to public only on that day each year when the family receive the cardinal
Cardinal or The Cardinal most commonly refers to
* Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds
**''Cardinalis'', genus of three species in the family Cardinalidae
***Northern cardinal, ''Cardinalis cardinalis'', the common cardinal of ...
s and other high officials to honor the event. Other notable events in the palace of the 16th century include various intra-familial murders. The palace is considered one of the most important early Renaissance mannerist
Mannerism is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Italy, when the Baroque style largely replaced it ...
masterpieces and remains the principal residence of the family, along with the Massimo castle in Arsoli.
References
Sources
* "Paul Theroff's Online Gotha"
* {{cite book, last=Rendina, first=Claudio, title=Le grandi famiglie di Roma, publisher=Newton Compton, location=Rome, year=2004
Medieval Roman patricians
Papal families
Massimo
Massimo () is a masculine Italian given name.
Notable people with the name include:
* Massimo Agostinelli (Max Agos) (born 1987), Swiss-based Italian American artist, entrepreneur and activist
* Massimo Agostini (born 1964), Italian football man ...
Italian-language surnames