Their Roman fortunes were made when Ippolito Aldobrandini became pope under the name
Pope Clement VIII. He arranged the marriage that linked the Aldobrandini with the Roman family of
Pamphili. They were also linked to marriage alliances with the
Farnese (
Ranuccio I, duke of Parma, had married
Margherita Aldobrandini) and
Borghese (since
Olimpia Aldobrandini married
Paolo Borghese). The family also lends its name to the
Palazzo Aldobrandini on the
Quirinal Hill. The Aldobrandini family, having reached the height of its powers when Ippolito Aldobrandini became
Pope Clement VIII (1592–1605), began the building of the villa. In 1600,
Pope Clement VIII acquired the Orti Vitelli on the Quirinal hill, and in 1601, donated the property to his
Cardinal-nephew Pietro Aldobrandini. The old buildings of the Vitelli Family were demolished and construction began on the new villa and adjacent garden. The villa was never the family seat as the Aldobrandini family owned even more splendid residences elsewhere in Rome. The villa on the Quirinal hill served essentially for ceremonial functions. More famous was the
Villa Aldobrandini in
Frascati. Also known as Belvedere for its charming location overlooking the whole valley up to
Rome, it was rebuilt on the order of Cardinal
Pietro Aldobrandini over a pre-existing edifice built by the Vatican prelate
Alessandro Rufini in 1550. The villa, aligned with the cathedral down its axial avenue that is continued through the town as Viale Catone, was rebuilt in the current form by
Giacomo della Porta from 1598 to 1602, and then completed by
Carlo Maderno and
Giovanni Fontana. The villa has an imposing 17th-century façade and some other interesting architectural and environmental features, such as the double gallery order on the rear façade, the spiral-shaped flights, the large exedra of the Water Theatre and the magnificent park. Inside there are paintings of
Mannerist and
Baroque artists such as the
Zuccari brothers,
Cavalier D'Arpino and
Domenichino. Outside there is a monumental gate by
Carlo Francesco Bizzaccheri (early 18th century). The
Doria, Pamphilj, Landi and Aldobrandini families have become united through marriage and descent under the simplified surname
Doria Pamphilj (which is now extinct since the death of Princess
Orietta Doria Pamphlij in 2000). The Aldobrandini family palazzo and its collections of works of art and furnishings is now the
Doria Pamphilj Gallery in Rome. The family name lives on, however, via a branch of the
Borghese family, descended from the marriage of
Olimpia Aldobrandini with Prince
Paolo Borghese in the 17th century. This line is descended from
Don Camillo Borghese, Prince Aldobrandini (1816–1902), a leading member of the
soi-disant Black Nobility, who in turn was the younger brother of the then Prince Borghese and head of that family. Princess
Olimpia Anna Aldobrandini, also a non-lineal descendant of
Napoleon on her mother's side, married into the
Rothschild family. The Head of the family today is Prince
Camillo Aldobrandini (b. 1945), whose heir is
Don Clemente Aldobrandini (b. 1982). == Other notable members of the Aldobrandini family ==