Abstract

This essay focuses on a crucial aspect of the relationship between courts and urban space: the movements of courtiers and servants from one embassy to another and from one cardinal court to another in Rome during the 17th and 18th centuries. Cross-referencing different sources, the paper takes into consideration first the space occupied by courts and embassies in papal Rome, secondly the need of domestic staff and finally the space occupied by aristocratic "familae" (made of gentlemen and servants) in the palaces. The last part of the essay tries to reconstruct the circulation of knowledge (care, cooking, music, painting, building...) that the movements of those courtiers implied.