Palazzetto del Burcardo

Burckardt was born in Alsace between 1445 and 1450, was in Rome from 1467, became papal chaplain in 1478, apostolic protonotary in 1481, master of ceremonies of the papal chapel in 1484 and bishop of Orte and Civita Castellana in 1503, and kept the diary known as the Liber Notarum from 25 December 1484 to 27 April 1506. In 1491 he leased from the abbey of Farfa a piece of ground holding the ruins of a medieval convent with a tower, and built his house around it. The tower he absorbed took the name Argentina from the way he signed himself, episcopus argentinensis, Strasbourg being Argentoratum, and Roma Capitale states on its own Largo di Torre Argentina page that this is where the largo's name comes from.