If he did that, he would have to look into the ill-gotten gains of other papal families—the Ludovisis, Borgheses, Al-dobrandinis, Perettis, and Buoncompagnis, just to mention a few. He could hardly prosecute all papal families for corruption and confiscate their wealth. If he did so, given the intricate marriage alliances, not a single noble line in Rome would be left unscathed. Moreover, he would have to prosecute himself, given the rampant nepotism he had begun to [ 412 ]M i s t r e s s o f t h e Vat i c a npractice. Clearly it was in the best interests of the Holy Roman Church to drop the case against Olimpia’s heirs.“As they say in Rome, dead dog, dead rabies,” Gregorio Leti wrote. “So that no one thought any more of her.”4 qCamillo and the princess of Rossano enjoyed Olimpia’s wealth. They now owned two enormous palaces in Rome—the Palazzo Pamphili and the Palazzo Aldobrandini, which came in handy when the couple had a knock-down, drag-out fight and temporarily separated.
