local time in Rome h23.57 (8°C - 46°F)
The Hotel dei Borgognoni stands in the quiet yet central via Del Bufalo, which takes its name from the imposing palazzo once owned by the Tuscan family of the same name. After taking up residence in Rome in the 13th century, the Del Bufalos made an important contribution to the city's development, especially the important water works that were created in those years. In olden times, Via Del Bufalo ran across the area between the Trevi fountain and piazza di Spagna, where an aqueduct with large arches, now only partly visible, brought drinking water into the city. The aristocratic mansion that can still be seen to this day was built in the 17th century, over the foundations of a 16th -century building.
The area also included the park of Villa Del Bufalo, enhanced by a little hunting lodge featuring splendid frescoes and a fountain decorated with rare stones and rocks, groups of sculptures and precious marbles. The park was completely dismembered at the end of the 19th century and the 16th-century hunting lodge was demolished upon the creation of via del Tritone, when new buildings were built on both sides of the street.
The hotel's name and coat of arms are a link with a group of Burgundians, who came to live in the area around piazza S. Silvestro in the 16th century. Following the Great Schism, many foreigners flocked to Rome from the various countries of the Christian world. These peoples formed confraternities and generally tended to stay in the same district. One of the most numerous of these groups hailed from Franche-Comté, a region in eastern Burgundy near the Swiss border that had broken away from Burgundy in 1477. In Rome these people established a large and lively community of merchants and bankers, who set up their businesses in the area around the Corso, hence the street name via Borgognona.
In 1650 the Burgundians established the Oratorio della Purificazione (no longer extant), which stood near the Banchi Vecchi and was ceded to the Confraternity of the Four Nations of France. The Burgundians then created their own national Confraternity, whose patron saints were St. Andrew, St. Claude and the Holy Virgin, in accordance with the popular religious tradition of their land of origin. Their new headquarters was the little church known as the Bernardini Riformati, near S. Silvestro, an area in which the community promoted the construction of many houses and shops, woodturner's and watchmaker's workshops in particular.
In the 18th century the Pope permitted the Burgundian community of Rome to rebuild the church and name it after their own patron saints, thereby definitively sanctioning their residence in the area.
The Hotel dei Borgognoni is housed in a 19th-century mansion house once the property of the Farmiento brothers, who, in the years after 1870, had it restored, bringing it up to the same height as the two adjacent buildings.
Today the Hotel is the proud standard bearer of a philosophy and style handed down over many centuries, thereby keeping alive a historical reality that will not and must not wane. But the truly clever part is that all this has been achieved without falling out of step with the changing times.
The area also included the park of Villa Del Bufalo, enhanced by a little hunting lodge featuring splendid frescoes and a fountain decorated with rare stones and rocks, groups of sculptures and precious marbles. The park was completely dismembered at the end of the 19th century and the 16th-century hunting lodge was demolished upon the creation of via del Tritone, when new buildings were built on both sides of the street.
The hotel's name and coat of arms are a link with a group of Burgundians, who came to live in the area around piazza S. Silvestro in the 16th century. Following the Great Schism, many foreigners flocked to Rome from the various countries of the Christian world. These peoples formed confraternities and generally tended to stay in the same district. One of the most numerous of these groups hailed from Franche-Comté, a region in eastern Burgundy near the Swiss border that had broken away from Burgundy in 1477. In Rome these people established a large and lively community of merchants and bankers, who set up their businesses in the area around the Corso, hence the street name via Borgognona.
In 1650 the Burgundians established the Oratorio della Purificazione (no longer extant), which stood near the Banchi Vecchi and was ceded to the Confraternity of the Four Nations of France. The Burgundians then created their own national Confraternity, whose patron saints were St. Andrew, St. Claude and the Holy Virgin, in accordance with the popular religious tradition of their land of origin. Their new headquarters was the little church known as the Bernardini Riformati, near S. Silvestro, an area in which the community promoted the construction of many houses and shops, woodturner's and watchmaker's workshops in particular.
In the 18th century the Pope permitted the Burgundian community of Rome to rebuild the church and name it after their own patron saints, thereby definitively sanctioning their residence in the area.
The Hotel dei Borgognoni is housed in a 19th-century mansion house once the property of the Farmiento brothers, who, in the years after 1870, had it restored, bringing it up to the same height as the two adjacent buildings.
Today the Hotel is the proud standard bearer of a philosophy and style handed down over many centuries, thereby keeping alive a historical reality that will not and must not wane. But the truly clever part is that all this has been achieved without falling out of step with the changing times.
