| Summary: | The theater of the Palazzo di Spagna in Rome, seat of the Spanish Embassy in the Papal City, is rather unknown. After the diplomatic breakdown with the Pope Clement XII Corsini in 1736, the newly elected Cardinal Troiano Acquaviva (1696–1747) became one of the most prominent figures in the Roman court. Besides his political mission, his main concern was to guarantee the stability of the new Bourbon King of Naples (Charles of Bourbon, son of Philipp V and Isabel de Farnesio). Acquaviva was also a magnificent and generous patron of arts and music. He supported young Spanish artists as Felipe de Castro, but he also hired important theater specialists as Giovanni Battista Olivieri or renowned musicians as Giovanni Battista Costanzi. His artistic and cultural network was strengthened through his lavish celebrations and “conversazioni” that were the very core of the embassy’s life especially after he became also the minister of the king of Naples (1737). He commissioned the theater to fulfill the necessity of a more suitable space for the crowded celebrations he usually hosted. Based on scarce and recently unearthed documentary sources, this article provides for the first time a reconstruction of the commission and also a glimpse on the naturally extended artistic and musical network operating around the fabulous patronage of this eminent cardinal.
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