The Palazzo Cimarra stands at the corner of the street of the same name and the Via Panisperna in Rome. After having served as the barracks of the Papal Zouaves in the 18th century, it is now a police station.
Palazzo Cimarra Rome
Address, opening times and admission
Address: Via Cimarra, 33 – Rome. The building serves as a police station and is not open to tourists.
History and description
The Palazzo Cimarra was commissioned by Prospero Cimarra, after he bought a piece of land on the Via Panisperna in 1678, at the spot where Via Cimarra now begins. The building is thought to have been designed by Ferdinando Fuga in 1736.
Until 1890, the building remained in the hands of the same family.
The next owner was the Portuguese ambassador Alexandre de Sousa Holstein, who used it as the seat of the Portuguese Academy.
In 1816 it came into the hands of the Apostolic Chamber. This institution administers the secular rights of the papacy during the period when a new pope is elected. It was used until 1870 as a barracks for the Papal Zoeaves, an infantry unit of the papacy. The Zoeaves were volunteers. They had to be Catholic, unmarried and between the ages of 16 and 40. The unit, which consisted largely of Dutch (one-third of the total), Belgian and French soldiers, was disbanded on September 21, 187o, the day after Italian troops captured the city from the Papal State.
In 1958 it was changed into a police station, and still serves that function.