The House of Massimo is one of the great aristocratic families of Rome, renowned for its influence on the politics, the church and the artistic heritage of the city.

[4][5][6] When asked by Napoleon (with whom he was negotiating the Treaty of Tolentino) whether the family descended from Fabius Maximus, the then-Prince Massimo famously replied: «Je ne saurais en effet le prouver, c'est un bruit qui ne court que depuis douze cents ans dans notre famille» ("I cannot actually prove it, it's a rumour that's only been running for twelve hundred years in our family").

[10] The occasional attribution of the two canonized Popes Anastasius I and Paschal I to the Massimo family as well as its descent from ancient Roman senators is likely to be mythical in nature.

Thereafter the family grew in influence among the Roman barons, and played a considerable part in the history of the city in the Middle Ages, producing numerous cardinals, ambassadors, and civil and military leaders.

Massimo Massimi (died 1465) served as Rome's chief conservator, a post held by several subsequent members of the family.

The third Prince of Arsoli, Camillo Carlo Massimo (1836–1873) wed Donna Francesca Lucchesi Palli (1836–1923), a half-sister of the Legitimist pretender to the French throne Henri, Count of Chambord through her mother Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Sicily (1798-1870)[12] daughter of the Neapolitan King Francis I of the Two Sicilies and widow of Charles X of France's assassinated heir, Charles Ferdinand, Duke of Berry.

The interior of the palace is open to public only on that day each year when the family receive the cardinals and other high officials to honor the event.

The palace is considered one of the most important early Renaissance mannerist masterpieces and remains the principal residence of the family, along with the Massimo castle in Arsoli.