Description

Despite the various owners, the palace remains tied in the memory of the Romans to the renowned Marquis del Grillo, even if all the news has been handed down without giving us the precise name, nor the exact date of his birth nor under which pope his death took place. We only know that he enjoyed upsetting the quiet life of Rome with his pranks, pranks often against powerful people, or proud, acquiescent or privileged, or towards the Jews, according to the legendary and resounding antipathy of the Marquis of Grillo for "li giudèi". But did this character really exist who, from the height of his wealth and power, devised jokes with exquisite ironic art, rebelling against every rule? Is it not a matter of legend? From Bertini, in his "History of Roman families" and from traces in the Capitoline Archives, we know that there were two Del Grillo families, who lived between the 17th and 19th centuries; we know that there is the palace, the family tomb in the church of S.Giovanni dei Fiorentini or traces left by chroniclers of the time. From this, we can give reliability to Giovagnoli's statements: "Although I was not able to find out, no matter how many researches I did, his name or the exact date of his birth, I was able to verify from the statements made by his descendants that he is a real historical personage and that many of the bizarre adventures, by popular legend joined to his name, are actually part of the deeds performed by this man that I would be willing to call the last and the most extravagant of the Roman feudal lords".