It originally faced the Piazza Scossacavalli, but was demolished and rebuilt along the north side of Via della Conciliazione, the wide avenue constructed between 1936 and 1950, which links St Peter's Basilica and the Vatican City to the centre of Rome.

Towards the middle of the 15th century, a house named "della stufa" stood at the northwest edge of the little Piazza Scossacavalli in Borgo.

[2] A stufa (from the German word stube) was something between a Roman bath and a modern sauna, often attended by artists who could freely sketch nudes there.

In 1500 the house was sold to the apostolic protonotary Adriano (or Alessandro) de Caprineis, of the noble Caprini family of Viterbo.

[2][3][4] During those years, Pope Alexander VI Borgia (r. 1492–1503 ) was pursuing a project to open a new road between Castel Sant'Angelo and the Old St. Peter's Basilica.

[2] The Caprini fulfilled this obligation by buying a portion of another house near the stufa and erecting there a small palazzo designed by Donato Bramante.

[5] Accused of corruption, the Cardinal was imprisoned in Castel Sant'Angelo in 1534 and released after paying a fine of 59,000 scudi to the Apostolic Chamber.

[6] The cardinal had to borrow the huge sum from the Florentine bankers Giulio and Lorenzo Strozzi, who later acquired his palace for 6,000 scudi as partial reimbursement of the loan.

[8] Camilla Peretti bought also some houses facing Piazza Scossacavalli and Borgo Vecchio, so that the palace reached its full extension.

[8][10][11] This institution, founded in 1600 by Pope Clement VIII (r. 1592–1605), was devoted to the protection of the Protestants who wanted to convert to the Catholic faith.

[10] The edifice was badly damaged during the flood of 1805, including the collapse of a vault in the basement, and restored by Pope Gregory XVI (r.

[10] The accuracy of the reconstruction allows the consideration of the rebuilt Palazzo dei Convertendi not as a new building, but as another phase in the centuries-old life of the edifice.

[16] In addition, a detailed survey of the palace executed just before its demolition in 1937 was discovered, yielding precious information about its different construction phases.

The lower one was rusticated, with ashlar obtained through a process called "di getto", which involved mixing pozzolana, lime, and other materials in a formwork.

[16] This rustication technique was quickly adopted in Rome, and the building, which had been inspired by Roman architecture, was soon imitated (for example, at Palazzo Massimo alle Colonne, erected in 1532 by Baldassare Peruzzi).

[17] The left portal introduced into the small church of San Filippo Neri, erected in the 17th century by the Spinola and containing only one altar.

Here died Raphael Sanzio on 6 April 1520The building has a yard with arches resting on rusticated Doric pillars sustaining spherical vaults.