Italian Writer's Guide to Unknown Rome

Just a few yards from the Spanish Steps, a cavernous mouth awaits you as the entrance door
to a XVI century palace in the Via Gregoriana. This is the Palazzetto Zuccari, house of fame and distinction,
whose tenants have been the most illustrious artist, writers and scientists of their times

A delightful palace just beside the Church of Trinità dei Monti. Throughout the centuries this house with the doorway shaped as a big picturesque mouth has attracted many Grand Tour travellers and persons of rank. Its vicinity to and breathtaking view over the Spanish Steps have made the place a most desirable accommodation for celebrated people.
The Palazzetto Zuccari was first built for Federico Zuccari, a most noted painter in Rome during the sixteenth century. From then on, a row of famous personalities have chosen the Palazzetto as their dwelling in Rome: the German archeologist Winckelmann, the French painter Nicolas Poussin, the historian Ferdinand Gregorovius, the Italian Prime Minister Francesco Crispi and the Italian writer Gabriele D'Annunzio among many others. D'Annunzio was so fond of the Palazzetto Zuccari that the main character of his novel "The Child Of Pleasure", the elegant and refined Andrea Sperelli, just lived in an apartment in this very same palace.