Torlonia
From Freepedia
The princes Torlonia are a Roman family, with origins in a huge fortune gained during the 18th and 19th century by the administration of the finances of the Vatican.
The first influential member of the Torlonia was Marino Torlonia (Tourlonias) (Angerolles 1725 – Rome March 21, 1785), a very rich businessman and banker, and father of Giovanni Torlonia, who in return for his administration of the Vatican finances, with the blessing of Pope Pius VI was created in 1794 duke of Bracciano and count of Pisciarelli; in 1803 Pius VII made him marquis of Romavecchia e Turrita; and 1st Prince of Civitella Cesi (Princeps Romanus); he was made a Patrizio Romano in 1809 (with confirmation from the Pope the January 19 1813) and duke of Poli e Guadagnolo in 1820, among other titles. He was the builder of the Villa Torlonia at Rome among other Torlonia villas.
In 1907, his grandson Marino Torlonia, 4th prínce of Civitella-Cesi ( Poli July 29, 1861 – Rome March 5 1933), 3rd Principe di Civitella Cesi and Nobile Romano, married the rich and stylish American blueblood Mary Elsie Moore (New York October 22 1889 – Rome December 21, 1941) and they were the parents of Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cesi(Rome February 7, 1911 – Rome April 11 1986)— who married the Infante Beatriz of Spain, the daughter of King Alfonso XIII— and also of princess Donna Marina Torlonia di Civitella-Cesi, wife of the American tennis player Francis Xavier Shields and grandmother of the well known American actress Brooke Shields.
In Rome the outstanding Torlonia properties are Palazzo Torlonia in Via Condotti near Piazza di Spagna and the beautiful gardens of the Villa Torlonia, now part of Rome's public park system.
The Torlonia family are one of the few Italian aristocratic families to have survived the reconstruction of the Papal court in 1969 by the bull Pontificalis Domus. Unlike most members of the Italian aristocracy the Torlonia family were 18th-century converts from Judaism.
Today the only hereditary honours still in use at the Vatican are that of "Hereditary Prince Assistants" to the Papal Throne. This honour is today held by Don Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince di Civitella-Cessi, and Prince Don Marcantonio Colonna, Prince and Duke of Paliano.
