The reason of our second trip to Rome was to deliver signed copies of our novel The Calling to the Prince and Princess Doria Pamphilj. Princess Gesine’s gracious note reads as follows:

Dear Rod Ensor

Thanks for your book The Calling. I'm glad Pope Innocent X was an inspiration for the novel.

Yours Sincerely.

Gesine Floridi Doria Pamphilj

A few centuries back, the Doria Pamphili family -- one of the most august of Rome's princely lineages -- thought nothing of throwing parties.

When an Austrian Grand Duke came to town in 1760, they turned the courtyard of their Renaissance palace on the Via del Corso into a ballroom, complete with a wooden dance floor and a decorated canvas ceiling.

When Prince Rainier III of Monaco, one of the few crowned heads left in Europe, came through Rome, the party -- a staid sit-down dinner for 600 -- was also at Palazzo Doria Pamphili.

The family still owns palaces in Rome and Genoa, several large country estates and one of the most important private art collections in Europe, with works by Caravaggio, Titian and Raphael and a portrait by Velazquez of Pope Innocent X, the family's 17th-century papal relative.

The Galleria's collection has about 600 paintings and 100 other objects, and is open to the public, which the Doria Pamphili family has been doing for decades, four days a week, from 10 A.M. to 1 P.M.

The family is dedicated to the idea that its treasures are somehow held in public trust.

A critical moment for the family's fortunes, and for the art world, came several years ago when the younger generation -- a son, Jonathan, and a daughter, Gesine, and Gesine's husband -- sat down with Princess Orietta to discuss closing the gallery to the public, which was costing them $66,000 a year.

A New York Times article a few years ago that showed more interest in the gallery's finances than in its history, or art collection, quotes Mr. Floridi: ''We were the reasonable ones,'' said the husband of Gesine, Massimiliano Floridi, who is now the administrator of the Gallery. ''But Mummy was adamant,'' said Jonathan Doria Pamphili, who grew up speaking English at home and was educated at East Anglia University. ''She wouldn't hear of it.''

Not surprisingly, it was the Princess's will that prevailed, and the gallery remained open. Renovations were undertaken, pictures were re-hung (in a way faithful to their arrangement in the 18th century), about 100 pictures were brought out of storage, modern lighting was installed, new rooms were put on display, the palazzo's old grand entrance onto Piazza del Collegio Romano opened up for visitors and a bookstore stocked with postcards, books and reproductions. Opening hours were extended to six days a week (with Thursdays off), from 10 A.M. to 5 P.M.

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