Cardinal Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was elected pope as Pius II on 19 August 1458. In the excited tumult following the announcement, the Roman mob sacked his house, which was located near the church of S. Agostino, not far from the north end of the Piazza Navona; even the marble stones were taken. When the Piccolomini family arrived in Rome, therefore, they had no palazzo of their own to use as their base of operations. Francesco moved into the Vatican Palace with his uncle.Richardson (2003), p. 608. Pius II was aware that this was a temporary situation; he remarked in a letter to his nephew Antonio that "One is not the nephew of a pope forever (non-semper pontificis nepos).Richardson (2003), p. 608 with note 6, quoting from an unpublished letter in the Bibliotheca Angelica in Rome. In 1461, the Pope authorized Cardinal Francesco to purchase a property near the Campo de' Fiori in Rome which had belonged to the recently deceased Cardinal Giovanni Castiglione. The documents made it clear that it was not the Pope or the Papacy which were buying the property, but the Piccolomini family, and that it was private property, not property of the Church, even though Cardinal Francesco's deaconry was not far distant. On this land, Cardinal Francesco, with the Pope's help, built the Piccolomini Palace. In 1476, Cardinal Francesco deeded the palace to his brothers Giacomo and Andrea, and their descendants, on the condition that it not be alienated from the male line. The Palazzo Piccolomini no longer survives, having been razed to make room for the new church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, which was begun in 1591.The palace was still standing in 1592. Richardson (2003), pp. 609–610.
Cardinal Aeneas Silvius Piccolomini was elected pope as Pius II on 19 August 1458. In the excited tumult following the announcement, the Roman mob sacked his house which was located near the church of S. Agostino, not far from the north end of the Piazza Navona; even the marble stones were taken. When the Piccolomini family arrived in Rome, therefore, they had no palazzo of their own to use as their base of operations. Francesco moved into the Vatican Palace with his uncle.Richardson (2003), p. 608. Pius II was aware that this was a temporary situation; he remarked in a letter to his nephew Antonio that "One is not the nephew of a pope forever (non-semper pontificis nepos)Richardson (2003), p. 608 with note 6, quoting from an unpublished letter in the Bibliotheca Angelica in Rome. In 1461, the Pope authorized Cardinal Francesco to purchase a property near the Campo de' Fiori in Rome which had belonged to the recently deceased Cardinal Giovanni Castiglione. The documents made it clear that it was not the Pope or the Papacy which were buying the property, but the Piccolomini family, and that it was private property, not property of the Church, even though Cardinal Francesco's deaconry was not far distant. On this land, Cardinal Francesco, with the Pope's help, built the Piccolomini Palace. In 1476, Cardinal Francesco deeded the palace to his brothers Giacomo and Andrea, and their descendants, on the condition that it not be alienated from the male line The Palazzo Piccolomini no longer survives, having been razed to make room for the new church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, which was begun in 1591.The palace was still standing in 1592. Richardson (2003), pp. 609–610.