<h2><em>Cristoforo, Ugo and Giacomo</em></h2>
<h1> LIKE FATHER,<br />
LIKE SON </h1>

PALAZZO STORIES

Cristoforo, Ugo and Giacomo

LIKE FATHER,
LIKE SON

I

In the first half of the 1500s, Cristoforo Boncompagni, father of Ugo, obtained land to expand the building from the Bologna Senate, with the intention of turning it into something more than a prestigious family palace.
It is said that the well-known merchant loved to confide in his friends that the palace he was working on was not for himself but for a Pope. Cristoforo died in 1546 and never knew that a Pope had actually lived in the Palazzo.

Foto Storica Palazzo Boncompagni
Giacomo Boncompagni

Scipione Pulzone, “Ritratto di Giacomo Boncompagni”, 1574

For his part, Ugo had a strong sense of family, and prior to becoming Pope but while already a man of the church, he decided to have a son to whom he could leave the building. He confessed to having “worked to provide you with children who could live in that house if I wanted to stay in Rome”.

SO IN 1548 GIACOMO BONCOMPAGNI WAS BORN, SON OF UGO, AND WAS IMMEDIATELY LEGITIMIZED BY HIS FATHER WHO, IN 1576, LEFT HIM THE PALAZZO ON THE OCCASION OF HIS MARRIAGE TO CONSTANCE SFORZA DI SANTA FIORA.

Di padre in figlio

In this regard, the response that the Pope gave to a cardinal, who complained of having voted him into the Conclave only because he was unaware of his paternity, remains famous:
“The Holy Spirit knew perfectly well.”