[3][4] They rose to high rank, partly because of several marriages with Italian noble families; among them were the Trivulzio and Pusterla from Milan, and the Capranica from Rome.

[3][4] Messer Traiano (also spelled Trajano) Alicorni, conservatore (one of the three counselors) of the city and primo cameriere of the pope, had his palace erected in Borgo at the beginning of the 16th century.

[9] After the erection of the new square, Palazzo Alicorni faced at a very short distance the southern Colonnade in an incongruous position, being isolated on three sides, with Piazza Rusticucci (the new vestibule of St. Peter's square, created through the demolition) to the north, via del Sant'Uffizio to the west, and the short, crooked lane named "Vicolo di Messer Traiano" (from Traiano Alicorni) to the east.

[8][9] In 1928 the Governatorato of Rome asked architect Adolfo Pernier to restore the building, which for the holy year of 1925 had been painted in yellow.

The architect after an accurate survey brought the palace back to its original early 16th century pristine condition, removing all the later additions, including the balcony along Via del Sant'Uffizio.

[9] Only three years later, after the signing of the Lateran treaties, the edifice had to be pulled down in the wake of the definition of the border between Italy and the newly established state of Vatican City.

[16] The building had two floors divided by belt courses, and a main front, first along Borgo Vecchio, after 1667 along Piazza Rusticucci, with five windows, a yard, and a portal framed by rustication.

Also lost in the 1930s reconstruction were other elements which had given to the original palace a "bellicose" effect, as the grilles protecting the ground floor's windows, the loopholes lighting up two peperino-made secret stairs, once visible from vicolo di Messer Traiano, and the lookout towers above the roof.