Lateran Palace
The title for a count palatine gradually grew in length, from "comes sacri palatii" (count of the sacred palace) to "comes sacri Lateranensis palatii" (count of the sacred Lateran palace) to "comes palatinus sacri Lateranensis palatii" (count palatine of the sacred Lateran palace). The connection to the actual Lateran Palace in Rome was merely symbolic. The Lateran was a former imperial palace under the Roman Empire and was the chief residence of the Popes in the Middle Ages. Its use in the title of a count palatine underlined his imperial and universal commission. This could occasionally be explicit, as in Benedetto Porcellini's title in a 1519 notarial act: "comes palatinus et sacri Lateranensis palatii apostolicis et imperialis" (count palatine of the sacred Lateran apostolic and imperial palace).