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Massimo is the name of a Roman princely family of great age; which by its own tradition descends from the ancient Maximi of republican Rome and from Quintus Fabius Maximus (c. 275 BC – 203 BC), called Cunctator (the Delayer). When asked by Napoleon (with whom he was negotiating the Treaty of Tolentino) whether the family descended from Fabius Maximus, the then Prince Massimo famously replied "I do not know that it is true, but it has been a tradition in the family for some thirteen or fourteen hundred years.". The family is generally recognised as one of the oldest noble families in Europe.

Quintus Fabius Maximus

Fabius was a Roman politician and soldier, born in Rome around 275 BC. He was consul five times (233 BC, 228 BC, 215 BC, 214 BC and 208 BC) and was twice dictator, 221–219 BC, and 217 BC. His nickname Cunctator means "delayer" in Latin, and refers to his tactics in deploying the troops during the Second Punic War where he defeated Hannibal. Descended from an ancient patrician family, the Fabii, he was a grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Gurges and a great-grandson of Quintus Fabius Maximus Rullianus, both famous consuls. According to Plutarch, the first of the Fabii was born from the liaison of Hercules with a nymph, rendering the family's origins semi-divine.

Massimo family

The Massimo family also provided two Popes to the Catholic Church, both Saints - Pope Anastasius I (died 401) who denounced the Origenist heresy, and Pope Paschal I (died 824) who stood up to the Frankish kings.

After the Dark Ages the family is recorded again in 1012 in the person of Leo de Maximis. Thereafter the family grew in influence among the Roman barons, and played a considerable part in the history of the city in the Middle Ages, producing numerous Cardinals, ambassadors, and civil and military leaders. The family were significant patrons of the arts, with the brothers Pietro and Francesco Massimi acquiring fame by protecting and encouraging the German printers Sweynheim and Pannartz, who came to Rome in 1467, where the first printed books in Italy were produced in the Massimo Palace. In the 17th century Cardinal Camillo II Massimo was famous as patron of the arts and of both Velasquez and Poussin.

In the 16th century the Massimo were the richest of the Roman nobles. A marquisate was conferred on them in 1544, and the lordship of Arsoli in 1574, and the Papal Princely title thereafter.

The Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne in Rome was built by the celebrated Sienese architect Baldassare Peruzzi by order of Pietro Massimo, on the ruins of an earlier palace destroyed in the sack of Rome in 1527. The curved façade is built on and dictated by the foundations of the stands for the stadium odeon of the emperor Domitian. The interior ceilings and vestibules are elaborately ornamented with rosettes and coffered roofs. The entrance ceiling is decorated with a fresco by Daniele da Volterra, who represented "Life of Fabius Maximus". The chapel on the 2nd floor was a room where the 14 year old Paolo Massimo, son of Prince Fabrizio Massimo, was recalled briefly to life by Saint Philip Neri in March 16, 1583. The interior of the palace is open to public only on that day each year when the family receive the Cardinals and other high officials to honor the event. Other notable events in the palace of the 16th century including various intra-familial murders. The palace is considered one of the most important early Renaissance mannerist masterpieces and remains the principal residence of the family, along with the Massimo Castle at Arsoli.

Many of the Massimo princesses who married into the family were from the most important Royal families of Europe. These included HRH Princess Cristina of Saxony, who married Prince Camillo Massimiliano in 1796; HRH Princess Maria-Gabriella of Savoy, who married Prince Camillo Vittorio in 1827; HRH Princess Beatrice of Borbon, daughter of HRH Don Carlos, Duke of Madrid, the pretender to the Spanish throne who married Prince Fabrizio in 1897; and HRH Princess Maria-Adelaide of Savoy-Genoa, daughter of the Duke of Genoa and niece of King Victor Emmanuel III, who married Prince Leone in 1935.

At the beginning of the 20th century, there were two branches of the Massimo family – the main princely one represented by H.E. the Prince Massimo, descended from Camillo Massimiliano (1770–1840), and the Ducal branch represented by H.E. the Duke of Rignano, descended from Francesco Massimo (1773–1844). The ducal branch is now extinct.

The head of the family is H.E Prince Don Fabrizio Massimo Brancaccio, Prince Massimo, Prince of Arsoli, Prince of Triggiano, etc. (physicist - b. 1963 in Rome).

A secondary branch of the family residing in England is represented by Don Stefano Massimo, Prince of Roccasecca dei Volsci (b. 1955 in London), whose heir is Don Valerio Massimo (b. 1973). On the 21 May 2009 Don Valerio reached the summit of Mount Everest

Sources

• Rendina, Claudio (2004). Le grandi famiglie di Roma. Rome: Newton Compton.

References

1. Story of Prince Massimo's famous quip to Napoleon regarding Fabius Maximus
2. Translation of Plutarch's Life of Fabius Maximus, with reference to descent of Fabii from Hercules and a Nymph
3. Time article from 1948 referencing family history
4. Reference to first books printed in Rome, in the Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne
5. Brief history of Cardinal Camillo Massimi and portrait by Velasquez
6. Genealogy of House of Savoy, citing Princess Maria-Adelaide of Savoy as an HRH
7. Valerio Massimo Everest Expedition 2009

• Ancient Roman families