A Jacobite Gazetteer - Lazio

Civita Castellana

Civita Castellana is located about thirty miles north of Rome. It can easily be reached by bus or train from Viterbo.

Palazzo Trocchi-Alessandrini

Palazzo Trocchi-Alessandrini is located at Corso Bruno Buozzi, 37, just before Via Ulderico Midossi. ¹

Queen Clementina (wife of King James III and VIII) stayed in this palace for three days in 1729. If one enters the main door of the palace and passes through the entrance hall, one comes to an outside courtyard. ² On the left wall of the courtyard is an Italian inscription over which is a (somewhat inaccurate) version of the arms of Queen Clementina.:

IN · QUESTO · PALAZZO
LA · REGINA · D'INGHILTERRA
MARIA · CLEMENTINA · SOBIESCHI
SOGGIORNO
DAL · VENERDI · ALLA · DOMENICA · DI · PENECOSTE
NEL · GIUGNO · MDCCXXIX

In this palace
the Queen of England
Maria Clementina Sobieska
stayed
from Friday to the Sunday of Pentecost
in June 1729.

Facade

Inscription

The fact that the inscription is in Italian (and not Latin) suggests that it is not contemporary with the event it records, and instead was erected many years later. Even more telling is the inaccurate rendition of the Royal Arms. ³

Via Rosa, 16

In 1800 King Charles Emanuel IV of Sardinia (later King Charles IV) and his wife Queen Clotilde stayed in this palace. ⁴ This was probably in June after Charles and Clotilde left Florence for Rome to escape the advancing French troops.

Notes

¹ Corso Bruno Buozzi leads out from the east end of the main piazza of the town (Piazza G. Matteotti, formerly Piazza della Pace).

² I gratefully acknowledge the permission granted me to access the palace by the present owner, Signor Felice Canfora.

³ The Royal Arms are normally grandquarterly, 1 and 4 quarterly France and England, 2 Scotland, 3 Ireland. Here, however, they are quarterly, England, Scotland, France, Ireland.

⁴ "Caprarola, Monumenti", http://www.comune.civitacastellana.vt.it/monumenti.asp.