ABSTRACT
In the early eighteenth century the western Mediterranean and Italy were dominated by Spain, where the new Bourbon dynasty, galvanized into activity by the ambition of Elizabeth Farnese, achieved a remarkable revival. Spanish Rome in the early eighteenth century was nevertheless the same Spanish Rome of the previous century when the Hapsburg monarchs were on the throne in Spain and Naples. While Spanish Rome has typically been associated with the Borgia popes and Spain's Hapsburg monarchs, the tradition of early-modern Spanish donation would certainly continue throughout the eighteenth century with the new Bourbon dynasty intent on securing the possessions it had lost in Italy during the War of Spanish Succession. Among the many figures that graced the Spanish court in Rome in the early eighteenth century, none was more well-known or prolific than the Florentine architect Ferdinando Fuga, one of the most successful Italian architects of the eighteenth century.
