The Palace, built for the wealthy family of Florentine merchants of the Gaddi, was purchased in 1567 by Angelo Cesi under the name `Palazzo Cesi`. Among the members of this family the best known is Federico Cesi, known as the Linceo, who in 1603 founded the Accademia dei Lincei which had its first seat here. The palace housed the first Botanical Garden of Rome and an important collection of antiquities, so rich as to be included in the eighteenth-century city guides of Rome. Today some works are still on site while others are divided between the Museum of Palazzo Altemps and the Capitoline Museums. The successive events of the Palace saw him change different owners and functions until 1940 when the building passed to the Ministry of War and became the seat of the Military Court.
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