Palazzo della Rovere: official communiqué from the Order
Palazzo della Rovere
With regard to reports in some media and in response to requests from commercial operators regarding the selection procedure for the management of a portion of the Palazzo della Rovere, owned by the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem, we would like to clarify the following:
The "Norms on Transparency, Control and Competition in the Procedures for awarding Public Contracts of the Holy See and of the Vatican City State", adopted on 19 May 2020 by means of an Apostolic Letter in the form of a Motu Proprio, do not apply to the aforesaid procedure, both because the Order is not included in the list referred to in Article 2, letter a) of the aforesaid Norms, and because the selection procedure began in 2019. Moreover, the Norms do not require a competitive procedure for active leases.
Nevertheless, the Order considered it to be in its institutional interest to ensure the maximum participation of possible bidders. On 10 November 2020, therefore, the Order published a notice in the newspaper "L’Osservatore Romano" and entrusted the evaluation of the bids to an international commission of experts.
Contrary to press reports, the selection procedure for the hotel management of the Palazzo della Rovere has not yet concluded, although the Order has received some offers of interest and identified them in order of preference.
Upon the conclusion of negotiations currently underway and under the vigilance of the Bodies of the Holy See appointed for this purpose, the Order will communicate its decision. This decision will be reached exclusively on the basis of the offer which best meets the underlying interests of the Order’s institutional aims, eschewing all undue external interference which will be countered with recourse to all legitimate action in the appropriate fora.
Any news that is not based on an official communiqué issued by this Order is to be considered unfounded.
(Vatican City, 14 June 2022)