ABSTRACT
Alexander VII's favorite residence was the palace on the Quirinal Hill or Monte Cavallo, the present presidential palace. Alexander was by no means the first pope who spent considerable time there, but he may have considered moving the papal residence permanently from the Vatican. The first regards Alexander's refusal of a statue on the Capitoline Hill. The second controversy regards Alexander's wish to move the papal residence from the Vatican to the Quirinal palace. Pallavicino's justification of Alexander's refusal juxtaposes the effigy carried in the heart of the Romans, the honorific statue, and the inscription composed by men of letters. Pallavicino in fact intimates that Alexander wanted to break a nascent tradition. On the other hand, he considers honorific sculpture as an element in the relationship between sovereign and subject. Pallavicino contends that art should not simulate or embody higher truths but address beholders so that they are moved to discover them.
