ABOUT THIS BOOK

Today, the Ludovisi district is one of Rome’s most luxurious neighborhoods, home to famous restaurants and some of the most expensive shops in the city. But it was once private property, part of an eighty-six-acre villa owned by the Boncompagni Ludovisis, an ancient noble family with close ties to the papacy. The story of how the palazzo fell out of the family's hands reveals the tremendous social upheavals that Italy underwent following its mid-nineteenth-century unification.

First privately published in 1921, The Twilight of Rome's Papal Nobility provides an intimate look at a family who grew up accustomed to almost unimaginable wealth, power, and glamour. A descendant of two popes, Ugo Boncompagni Ludovisi recounts the life story of his mother Agnese, who was raised in a palace full of priceless artwork, including pieces by Caravaggio and Michelangelo. We get a window into Agnese's private life—her girlhood, marriage, and raising of several children—as her public life becomes increasingly tumultuous amid the family’s struggles to retain its property. A tender elegy to a bygone era, Boncompagni Ludovisi's story provides a unique perspective on Italian history and Rome’s urban redevelopment.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

UGO BONCOMPAGNI LUDOVISI (1856–1935) was the eldest son of Rodolfo Boncompagni Ludovisi and Agnese Borghese Boncompagni Ludovisi. A twice-widowed husband and father of five children, he was the founder of the Scacciadiavoli winery and progenitor of the current Boncompagni Ludovisi dynasty. Following the death of his second wife, he joined the priesthood and ultimately held the influential position of Vice Camerlengo at the Vatican.

CAROL COFONE is a translator and assistant director of the digital humanities project Archivio Digitale Boncompagni Ludovisi.

REVIEWS

"The Twilight of Rome’s Papal Nobility filters Agnese Borghese Boncompagni Ludovisi's life through the eyes of her son and biographer, Ugo. The exceptional encounters both she and the family at large had with elite members of the religious and secular establishment are combined with touching episodes of everyday life events. The biography exists at the crossroads of Italy's remarkable history, including Ugo's musings on the Risorgimento and the expropriation of his family's Villa Ludovisi, making Cofone's translation a truly fascinating read.”

— Pierette Kulpa, associate professor of art history at Kutztown University of Pennsylvania

"Cofone's translation offers an extraordinary glimpse into the lives and mental world of the nineteenth-century Roman aristocracy—intensely Catholic but increasingly international and, from a social position of certainty that would prove mistaken, intellectually curious. The economic ups and downs of the Boncompagni Ludovisi family, an astoundingly rich papal family which would topple from its great height by the end of the century, are the backdrop for marital alliances and travels, and the life of Agnese Borghese Boncompagni Ludovisi as written by her son was, in its own way, a gigantic adventure in which we can now participate."— Anthony Majanlahti, author of The Families who Made Rome: A History and a Guide

"An intimate memorial to Agnese, who became wife, mother, and matriarch of a Roman aristocratic family in the tumultuous decades between the mid-nineteenth and the early twentieth century. From memoir to wider family history, Ugo's account intertwines the fate of the Boncompagni Ludovisi with the making of a new unified Italy. Cofone's translation captures the spirit of the now vanishing world of Roman aristocratic culture."— Caroline Castiglione, author of Accounting for Affection: Mothering and Politics in Early Modern Rome

TABLE OF CONTENTS

To My Few Readers

Casa Borghese
My Grandfather’s Wedding—My Mother is Born
The Death of my Grandmother, Guendalina
My Mother Always Remembers This Death
My Grandfather’s Second Marriage
My Mother Up To the Age of Twelve
The Revolution of 1848
Pius IX Departs from Rome
From My Mother’s “Journal:” Pius IX and the Borghese in Gaeta
The Borghese in Naples
The Miracle of San Gennaro
The Devotion to the Sacred Heart—The Doria
The News from Rome
The de Ligne
The Taking of Rome
Pius IX in Portici and the Borghese in Vico
Two Small Volumes of Memories
Her Mother
Her Father
The “Journal” of Her mother
The Borghese Return—My Mother’s Education is Completed

“L’entrée dans le monde” of My Mother...My Mother’s Entry into the World
The Engagement and a Misunderstanding with the Porter
The Marriage
Letters of My Grandfather Borghese
Travel to Paris and England
My Birth
Other Letters from My Grandfather Borghese
My Brother Luigi is Born
A First Excursion
Aunt Princess Doria Dies
My Sister Guendalina
Political Events—Francesco II in Rome
Don Bosco and Francesco II at Villa Ludovisi
Letters of Francesco II
One of My Audiences with Francesco II
Family Relations—Some Names
My Sister Maddalena and My Brother Giuseppe are Born
My First Communion
A Warning That is Almost a Prophecy
Three Trips to Paris
In Mentone, in Switzerland, in Bavaria
We Do Not “diamo del tu” Anymore
In Belgium, in Cologne, and Again in Paris
I Get Lost in the Garden of the Exposition
Return to Rome and Meetings with the Countess Pianell, Monsignor di Canossa and the Garibaldini
A Trip to Mentana and the De Charette
La Quiete
The Institute of the Blind
The Charity Bazaar
My Mother’s Serious Illness—My Sister Maria is Born
My Uncle and Aunt Venosa at La Quiete
The Faith of My Mother
Une Matriarche
Her Faith and Affection for the Roman Pontificate
Gregory XVI
Pius IX
Leo XIII
Pius X
Benedict XV
The Political Philosophy of My Mother, The Division in Roman Society
I Fall Sick
A Deficiency in the Education of My Mother
A Faithful Cook
Providential Care of the Staff
The 20th of September, 1870
My Mother, the Pontifical Prisoners and Two Courtly Officers of the Bersaglieri
The 20th of September and Several Years Spent at La Quiete
A Few Among the Visitors of La Quiete in Those Years
Don Bosco
The Chapel of La Quiete and the Sacred Heart
Other Visitors at La Quiete—Abbott Lisi and Abbott Ancaiani
A True Tridentine Patriot
A Train Accident—Aunt and Uncle Bomarzo at La Quiete

Vittoria Patrizi
A Thought about Marriage
My Marriage
The Death of Princess Adele Borghese
The Wedding of My Sister Guendalina
My Little Guendalina and My Mother
Alton Towers Castle in the Past
The Religious Vocation of My Sister Maddalena and My Mother
The Departure, the Investiture of My Sister in the Letters of Monsignor Czaski and My Mother
Isabella Rondinelli Marries My Brother Luigi
La Quiete, Its Visitors Cardinal Pecci and Cardinal Nina
Two Oratorians Sacred to La Quiete: Monsignor Fabiani, Father Agostino da Montefeltro
The Death of My Vittoria, My Sorrow, the Affection of My Mother
My Mother and San Francesco
San Francesco—His Shrines—Franciscan Festivals
My Grandfather Piombino Dies
Laura Altieri
At Palazzo Piombino in Piazza Colonna
A Great Sorrow: the Death of Her Father
My Mother’s Thoughts on Maternal Authority
A Very Small Book Where She Wrote Down Her Memories About Her Children
Little Political Newspapers
October 20, 1886, a Very Happy Day for My Parents
My Father on the Verge of Death and Guido Baccelli
Arduina di San Martino Marries My Brother Giuseppe
The Palazzo in Via Veneto and My Mother
My Mother and the Memories of Casa Boncompagni
My Laura Dies—My Mother and Extreme Unction
Our Serious Financial Difficulties; Charity, the Fortitude of My Mother’s Soul
A Look at Her Affection for My Father That Manifested Itself More in The Days of Suffering
The Sorrow of My Mother Over the Death of Princess Teresa Borghese
My First Mass and The Long-Standing Prayer of My Mother in Loreto
Three Great Sorrows, Three Perished...My Brother-In-Law Cattaneo Dies
My Grandmother Piombino Dies
My Son-In-Law Malvezzi Dies
The Last Party At La Quiete—The Wedding of My Guglielmina
It Is the Hostess Who Makes the Salon
The Golden Wedding Anniversary
The Canon Don Andrea Muzzarelli
A Good Friend, Today Bishop of Noto
My Francesco Marries Nicoletta Prinetti. Their First Child
My Mother and Her Affection for Her Husband in His Last Years
The Death of Our Father; The Great Sorrow of Mammà

Her Vision; The Painful Privations That It Imposed
Conversation Is a Welcome Relief
The Loss of a Beloved Sister and Two Dear Brothers
The Grandmother and Her Affection for Her Grandchildren
The Heart of My Mother, And My Son
My Daughter Guendalina, Her Grandmother and Her Social Work
My Mother’s Thoughts About the Work of Women
The Congregation of San Vincenzo in Foligno
A Son Respected for His Love for His Mother
Activities Aimed at Spiritual Improvement
Belfiore and the Children of The Workers
The Turchine and Some of Her Ways of Carrying Out Charity
The First Communions—The Last Hundred Lire My Mother Gave
Mons. Faloci and the Charity of My Mother
Going Back to My Mother’s Characteristic Qualities
My Mother and Culture—The Book
Another Loss—Her Last Sorrow
She No Longer Goes To La Quiete
Mother Savina Petrilli and The Last Summer Seasons
The Last Summer Seasons in Her Letters
The “Sisters Of The Poor”— The Dear One Of My Mother —“Leonetta"
Gleaning Among the Reading Done “With Pen in Hand”
Charity and Manual Work
What Those Who Knew Her Write
Maddalena Patrizi
Father Martens
Carlo Santucci
The Count of Linange
Raffaella Conestabile
Monsignor Di Somma
Matilde Fiorilli
Return To Rome!
Her Life in The Last Months
Everything Is in Order
My Sisters Tell Me
Always Full of Life ... But Life Is Near Its End!
Last Days—The Sacraments—Memories—Goodbyes
Last Hours—The Prayers of The Dying
I’m Standing in That Room! She Breathes Her Last! ... It’s Five Minutes to Midnight.