Palazzo Pamphilj Palazzo Pamphilj Palazzo Pamphilj, also spelled Palazzo Pamphili, is a palace facing onto the Piazza Navona in Rome. It was built between 1644 and 1650. Since 1920 the palace has housed the Brazilian Embassy in Italy, and in October 1960 it became the property of the Federative Republic of Brazil in a purchase negotiation led by Ambassador Hugo Gouthier de Oliveira Gondim. In 1644, Cardinal Giambattista Pamphilj of the powerful Pamphilj family, who already owned a palace between the Piazza Navona and the Via Pasquino, became Pope Innocent X. With this election came the desire for a larger more magnificent
Fontana di Piazza Colonna to the foot of the column of Marcus Aurelius. The source of the water for the fountain of Piazza Colonna was only 67 feet above sea level; like the Trevi Fountain, the Fontana della Barcaccia, and the fountains of Piazza Navona, all connected to the Acqua Vergine, the fountain of Piazza Colonna was unable to jet water high into the air. The original project of Della Porta was to place an antique Roman statue of a sea god, called Marforio, in the fountain, against a background of a rocky grotto, behind which the column of Marcus Aurelius would be seen.