The House of Aldobrandini is an Italian noble family originally from Florence, where in the Middle Ages they held the most important municipal offices.

In 1600 Clement VIII acquired the Orti Vitelli on the Quirinal hill and in 1601 donated the property to his Cardinal-nephew Pietro Aldobrandini.

Also known as Belvedere for its charming location overlooking the whole valley up to Rome, it was rebuilt on the order of Cardinal Pietro Aldobrandini over a pre-existing edifice built by the Vatican prelate Alessandro Rufini in 1550.

The villa, aligned with the cathedral down its axial avenue that is continued through the town as Viale Catone, was rebuilt in the current form by Giacomo della Porta from 1598 to 1602, and then completed by Carlo Maderno and Giovanni Fontana.

Princess Olimpia Anna Aldobrandini, also a non-lineal descendant of Napoleon on her mother's side, married into the Rothschild family.