Little piazza Mattei is located in the ancient neighbourhood of rione Sant'Angelo, for centuries the heart of the Jewish Ghetto of Rome. This is the heart of the territory controlled in the 1500 and 1600s by the extremely powerful Mattei family of merchants. The rectangular shaped square with Renaissance origins takes its name from Palazzo Giacomo Mattei that stands on it, the oldest of the five buildings that together form the so-called “Mattei island”: others include Palazzo Mattei di Giove, Palazzo Mattei di Paganica and Palazzo Alessandro Mattei (today Caetani).
The Mattei family was also responsible for the fountain of the Tartarughe, built in the second half of the 1500s to a design by Giacomo Della Porta with bronze sculptures by Taddeo Landini: the three turtles that seem to want to drink from the hands of the statues were added in 1658 by Gian Lorenzo Bernini (the originals are in the Capitoline Museums).
On the corner of the square with via della Reginella, Palazzo Costaguti stands at number 10, with ceilings frescoed by Guercino, Domenichino and Lanfranco (among others). The building stretches along via della Reginella, where the oldest part stands, and overlooks piazza Costaguti.
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