The Colonna family: who they are, and who still lives in the palace

The short version: the same family has held this building since the 1200s and still lives in part of it, which is why the public only gets two mornings a week. The name is a place before it is a word: Peter “de Columna” took it from Columna Castle at Colonna, in the Alban Hills. The documented line starts with Pietro Colonna, c. 1078–1108. One Colonna became pope — Oddone, elected 14 November 1417, who reigned as Martin V until 20 February 1431. Today Don Prospero Colonna, born 1956, heads the main line.

Documented fromPietro, c. 1078–1108

The palaceTheirs since the 1200s

Their popeMartin V, 1417–1431

Head of the main lineDon Prospero, b. 1956

Prince and Duke of PalianoMarcantonio, b. 1948

Prince AssistantAbolished 2018

The name is a castle before it is a column

Ask what “Colonna” means and you will be told “column”, which is true and is not the answer. Peter de Columna took the name from Columna Castle at Colonna, in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome. So the family is named after a castle, and the castle was named after a column. The name page works through it.

Where the documented line starts, and where it stops being documented

Pietro Colonna (c. 1078–1108), son of Gregory III, Count of Tusculum, is where the record begins. Everything before him is family tradition rather than history: the claimed descent from the Julio-Claudians is, in the encyclopedia’s own phrase, “lost in the mists of time”, and this site is content to leave it there. A house with a documented eleventh century does not need a legendary first century, and I have never heard a Colonna press the point.

Their pope

Oddone Colonna was elected on 14 November 1417 and reigned as Martin V until 20 February 1431. His election ended the Western Schism, which is the largest single thing anyone in this family did, and it is why a Roman baronial house that might have been a footnote is instead in every textbook of the period.

How long they have had this house, and the two ways it gets said

Here the sources say two different things and this site prints both rather than converting one into the other.

The claim	Where it comes from
The palace has been the family’s since the 1200s, and the oldest section is 13th century	The building’s own documented fabric and the operator
“Over twenty generations”	English Wikipedia, on the family’s tenure of the palace

Those are not the same statement and neither is a translation of the other. A century count and a generation count are different measurements, taken by different people, and anyone who converts between them is doing arithmetic the sources did not do. There was also an interruption: the palace passed to the Della Rovere and came back by marriage.

Who is alive now

Don Prospero Colonna, born 1956, heads the main line. Prince Marcantonio Colonna di Paliano, born 1948, is Prince and Duke of Paliano. The family holds Prince of Paliano, a title it has carried since 1556.

This is the part visitors find hardest to take literally. The rooms you walk through are not a museum that used to be a house; they are a house with a gallery in it, and the people whose surname is on the building are in the other part of it while you are there. The two mornings a week are a consequence of that and not a scheduling decision.

The office that ended in 2018

From 1514 the Colonna held the office of Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne. It was abolished in 2018. Five hundred and four years, and then a line in a bulletin.

I mention it because it is the cleanest published fact about what has actually changed for this family in living memory, and because it is the kind of thing that gets left out of the version where nothing ever changes.

A stick of dark red sealing wax, a brass candlestick and one blank sheet of paper — Sealing wax, a candlestick and a blank sheet. The furniture of a family archive, photographed as objects — not the palace and nothing from it.

What is not on this page

Money. People arrive at the family from a search asking what they are worth, and there is no published figure to give them — the wealth page says so at length and answers what can be checked instead. The other old question is the feud with the Orsini, which has its own page.

Insider tip

If you want to see how a family thinks about itself, look up in the Great Hall. The vault was finished in 1702 and it shows episodes from the life of Marcantonio II Colonna, including Lepanto in 1571. They painted their own ancestor over the room they received guests in.

Book the admission

Free cancellation up to 24 hours before departure on most tours — book now, decide later.

Frequently asked questions

Who lives in Palazzo Colonna?

The Colonna family, who have held the palace since the 1200s and still occupy part of it. Don Prospero Colonna, born 1956, heads the main line; Prince Marcantonio Colonna di Paliano, born 1948, is Prince and Duke of Paliano.

Does the Colonna family still exist?

Yes. The main line is headed by Don Prospero Colonna, born 1956, and the family has held the title Prince of Paliano since 1556. The office of Prince Assistant to the Papal Throne, held from 1514, was abolished in 2018.

Where did the Colonna family originate?

From Columna Castle at Colonna, in the Alban Hills southeast of Rome, from which Peter “de Columna” took the name. The documented line starts with Pietro Colonna, c. 1078–1108.