Palazzo Colonna

Seventeenth-century Palazzo Colonna in Paliano has been the country residence of the main branch of the Colonna family from the mid-1600s to the present day. It is in excellent condition both inside and out. All the façades have been restored in recent years, and regular maintenance is carried out on an ongoing basis. The Palazzo is located in the centre of Paliano in the province of Frosinone, 60 km from Rome. It stands next to the Church of S. Andrea, overlooking the main square, Piazza Marcantonio Colonna, as well as Via Lepanto and Via Umberto I.

Visits are exclusively by appointment, for a minimum of 10 people, and are always accompanied one the Colonna family’s trusted staff members. It is possible to visit 10 fully furnished rooms in the Palazzo’s representative apartment (approximately 800 square metres), as well as the entrance courtyard, and the family chapel where ancestors of the main lineage of the Colonna family have been laid to rest since the 16th century up to the present day, including Marcantonio II Colonna, commander of the Papal fleet at Lepanto, and his wife Felice Orsini.

You may choose to further enhance your tour by visiting the charming 16th-century Church of St. Andrew

The history of Palazzo Colonna
Filippo I Colonna (1578-1639) commissioned the construction of Palazzo di Paliano around 1623 next to the Collegiata di S. Andrea, the town’s main church, where the chapel containing the tombs of some of the most prominent Colonna family members already stood.

Paliano had long been one of the strategic strongholds of the Colonna dynasty. An important contingent of Colonnese troops was stationed in the 15th-century fortress, which dominates the town from above and is now a correctional facility. They remained in service until the early 1800s when they were discharged by Filippo III Colonna (1760-1818) at the end of the feudal period, in agreement with Pope Pius VII.

Filippo I Colonna dedicated Palazzo di Paliano to the memory of his wife Lucrezia Tomacelli (1576-1622) and renovated the family chapel within the new building “to give a worthy burial place to my illustrious consort”, as is stated on the plaque above the main entrance of the Palazzo on Piazza Marcantonio Colonna.

One of the sons of Filippo I and Lucrezia, Cardinal Girolamo I Colonna (1604-1666), completed the construction of the building by adding a new wing in the second half of the 17th century with the help of Architect Antonio Del Grande. The complex has remained virtually unchanged ever since, displaying all the linear and austere charm that is typical of ancient noble residences in the Roman countryside.

Palazzo Colonna has hosted fifteen generations of the family from its foundation to the present day. During the Second World War, it was requisitioned by the German armed forces for a period, who they looted and abandoned it in a ruinous state. Immediately after the war, a slow but steady period of restoration and refurnishing work was set in motion.

In the past decade, extensive conservation and restoration efforts have significantly improved the external façades, underscoring the Colonna family’s profound attachment for and dedication to preserving this historic home.