Friends of Pope Alexander VI (Borgia), the wealthy Caesarini family, built this palace in the 15th century near San Pietro in Vinculi, incorporated into what in the Middle Ages was the tower of the very powerful Frangipani family.
A Borgia child, Giroloma, married Andrea Caesarini but shortly thereafter both died, victims of the plague. Around that time Vannozza dei Cattanei, the mistress of the Borgia pope and the mother of their infamous children,Caesare, Lucrezia, Juan and Gioffre acquired the property.
On June 14, 1497, Juan Borgia, Duke of Gandia, the eldest son of Pope Alexander VI, attended a family gathering.
Afterwards, he exited the Palazzo through the door that leads to the steps, the Scalinata dei Borgia, an eerie passageway leading to the modern thoroughfare, Via Cavour.
Outside, assassins assaulted and killed him and threw his body into the Tiber River, presumably hired by his very own brother, Cesare. Juan’s body washed ashore three days later and on it, a purse filled with money.
The Palazzo over the Borgia steps returned to the Cesarini family after the death of Alexander VI in 1503. In the 17th- century the Minim Friars acquired it and reside there still in the Convent of San Francesco di San Paola.
