FAO PALACE

PALAZZO DELLA FAO

Viale delle Terme di Caracalla

1938 Vittorio Cafiero (1901/81) e Mario Ridolfi (1904/84) con Ettore Rossi (1894/1968), Giulio Rinaldi, Wolfgang Frankl (1907/94), Alberto Legnani e Armando Sabatini

Designed as the Ministry of Italian Africa but completed and extended for the new use only in the years 1950/52 by Vittorio Cafiero himself

Headquarters of the FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS

The building is leased to the UN by the Italian government for the symbolic price of $ 1 per year

Near Piazza di Porta Capena, in front of the building, in 1937 the stele of Axum was placed, an obelisk of the fourth century AD moved here from Ethiopia by the order office Mussolini. In 2005 the obelisk was removed from the square and returned to the Government of Ethiopia

PALACE OF THE DEUTSCHE BANK

PALAZZO DELLA DEUTSCHE BANK

Via del Tritone 161

1910/13 Arturo Pazzi (XIX/XX centuries) as the site of the Grandi Magazzini Old England (Old England department store)

Arturo Pazzi designed the widening exit of the tunnel and also designed the nearby Palazzo del Messaggero, formerly Hotel Select

PALACE OF THE CHRISTIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY

PALAZZO DELLA DEMOCRAZIA CRISTIANA

Piazzale Luigi Sturzo

1955/58 designed by Saverio Muratori (1910/73). It was completed in 1962

It was the headquarters of the Italian party DEMOCRAZIA CRISTIANA (Christian Democracy) who ruled Italy and dominated the political scene for much of the second half of the twentieth century

It is also known as PALAZZO STURZO in honor of Don Luigi Sturzo priest and Italian politician, founder in 1919 of the Partito Popolare Italiano (Italian Popular Party)

“Saverio Muratori's program of 'engagement of traditional shapes in the patterns of the modern movement', was expressed in a lexical retrieval of historical and environmental values. And it is in this respect that the building of the headquarters of the Democrazia Cristiana was designed” (Giancarlo Cataldi)

“He developed the theme of the public building from the plant with a central courtyard to a clear overlap between hierarchical levels, with clear references to the classicism of the Roman late Renaissance palace, even in the rich design of the façades”(Alessandra Capanna - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

PALACE OF THE APOSTOLIC DATES GIVERS

PALAZZO DELLA DATARIA APOSTOLICA

Via della Dataria 94

End of the sixteenth century for Cardinal Orazio Maffei

1615 renovated for Paul V Borghese (1605/21) when it became the seat of the Dataria Apostolica (Apostolic Date Givers) the office of the Curia who had the task of affixing the date on papal documents

1860/61 rebuilt by Andrea Busiri Vici (1818/1911) for Pius IX Mastai-Ferretti (1846/78)

It was an important center of power with exceptional financial importance: this is where handouts were conceded and where benefits and ecclesiastical roles were assigned

In 1652 the sub-datario Mascambruno, sentenced to death on charges of having forged the signature of Innocent X Pamphilj (1644/55) on some documents, before being beheaded, was conducted in front of the Palazzo della Dataria and here his right hand was cut

The institution was abolished in 1968 by Paul VI Montini (1963/78)

Since 1973 is home to ANSA the main Italian news agency and the fifth in the world

PALACE OF THE COUNCIL

PALAZZO DELLA CONSULTA

Piazza del Quirinale 41

1732/34 most important early work of Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) for Clement XII Corsini (1730/40)

The building was financed with the proceeds of the lottery and it replaced the Palazzo di Vercelli of the Ferrero family from Piedmont where the Cardinal of Vercelli Guido Luca Ferrero resided

On the façade of Palazzo di Vercelli there were originally frescoes painted in 1517 by Polidoro da Caravaggio (about 1495/1543)

“Fifteenth century echoes are in the façade, reconstructed with a sense of balance and elegance typically Tuscan. Fuga carries out a research for formal purity and rational measure” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

“The easy virtuosity of Fuga resulted in this first phase of his career in a very refined style with a touch of Tuscan sophistication, so different from the skillful liveliness of Valvassori and from the Roman sense of the grandeur of Salvi” (Rudolf Wittkower)

It was the seat of the Tribunale della Sacra Consulta (Tribunal of the Holy See)

From 1874 it was the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and since 1922 of the Ministry of the Colonies, which in 1937 was renamed Ministry of Italian Africa

In 1923 the Colonial Museum was inaugurated inside the building

Since 1955 is the SEAT OF THE CORTE COSTITUZIONALE (Supreme Court)

The original color of the FAÇADE was baby blue, common to many Roman eighteenth-century buildings

On the pediment of the portal “Justice” and “Religion” by Francesco Maini

On the side portals “Trophies” by Filippo Della Valle (1698/1768)

On the balustrade above “Group with two allegorical figures of Fame and Corsini coat of arms” by the Neapolitan Paolo Benaglia (?/1739)

In the COURTYARD splendid double staircase inspired by the exterior staircase of the Palazzo del Gallo of Roccagiovine by the flamboyant Alessandro Specchi

THREE DECORATIVE PHASES:

1) Ceilings 1737/44 by Antonio Bicchierari for Clement XII

2) “Works of Pius VI” and decorations on the ceilings 1787/90 by Bernardino Nocchi (1741/1812) for Pius VI Braschi (1775/99). Bernardino Nocchi also painted the ornamentations that framed the existing paintings by Bicchierai

3) Paintings with floral and narrative subjects to celebrate industrial progress 1870/74 by Cecrope Barilli (1839/1911), Domenico Bruschi (1840/1910) and Annibale Brugnoli (1843/1915). Because of this intervention, most of the previous decorative cycles were destroyed

“In the layout of the rooms, the architect was able to overcome all the difficulties determined by the site plan with intelligence, also exploiting the wedge-shaped areas” (Simona Sperindei)

In the THIRD ANTECHAMBER “Lagoon of Venice” by Achille Vertunni (1826/97)

In the FOURTH ANTECHAMBER “Portrait of Queen Margherita of Savoy” by Guglielmo De Sanctis (1829/1911)

In the STUDIO OF THE PRESIDENT “May” by Giacomo Balla (1871/1958)

In STUDY OF THE VICE-PRESIDENT “Battle” by Giovanni Fattori (1825/1908) and two “Portrait of Girl” by Jean Baptiste Greuze (1725/1805)

In the RED LOUNGE beautiful painting influenced by Caravaggio “Magdalene with the crown of thorns” first half of the seventeenth century by Bartolomeo Cavarozzi (1587/1625)

In the GREEN LOUNGE “Head of boy” in marble by Domenico Trentacoste (1859/1933) from Palermo. At the center of the room “Table with inlaid marble” of the sixteenth century from Florence

In the ANTECHAMBER OF THE STUDY OF A JUDGE huge painting “Landscape with lake” by Achille Vertunni

PALACE OF THE CONFEDERATION OF INDUSTRY

PALAZZO DELLA CONFINDUSTRIA

Viale dell'Astronomia 30

Designed in 1958 by Vincenzo Monaco (1911/69) but built only from the late sixties

Completed in 1973 by Edoardo Monaco (1943) son of Vincenzo

Interior design by Pier Luigi Spadolini (1922/2000)

CONFINDUSTRIA is the association of the Italian industries and it represents 149,288 businesses of all sizes, for a total of 5,516,975 workers

PALACE OF THE CIVILIZATION OF WORK

PALAZZO DELLA CIVILTÀ DEL LAVORO

Quadrato della Concordia

1938/43 Giovanni Guerrini (1887/1972), Ernesto La Padula (1902/68) and Mario Romano (1898/?)

Formerly known as Palazzo della Civiltà Italica (Palace of the Italian Civilization) and popularly known as COLOSSEO QUADRATO (Square Colosseum)

50 m (164 feet) high, 68 m (223 feet) with the base

216 arches with six horizontal rows of nine arches each

It appears that this choice was not random, but it might have hinted at the name (Benito, six letters) and surname (Mussolini, nine letters) of the dictator

The palace expresses an obvious and surreal fascination of metaphysical architecture

“The name of La Padula is linked - as leader of the group with Guerrini and Romano - to the most emblematic building of Fascist Rome, the Palace of the Italian Civilization, which until the eighties of the twentieth century has weighed the prejudice of spurious and disingenuous architects, instilled by Giuseppe Pagano and Gio Ponti, and strengthened by Bruno Zevi, who saw in it a masking of the frame in reinforced concrete and therefore a betrayal of the rationalist dogma of the visual identity of form and structure. (...) In the executive phase the project was changed, both in proportions (from a cube pierced by eight galleries of thirteen overlapping arches to a parallelepiped of six galleries of nine arches, crowned by an attic) and in the internal structure, so as to be essentially disowned by its architects” (Sergio Cortesini - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Since November 2003, is being restored. At the end of the work it should become the Audiovisual Museum

Under the arches of the ground floor there are twenty-eight statues (one per arc) representing arts and crafts: about 3.40 m (11 feet) high, built in 1942 by eight companies specialized in marble in the provinces of Lucca and Massa Carrara

From the front door to left clockwise:

“Heroism, Music, Handicraft, Political Genius, Social Order, Labor, Agriculture, Philosophy, Commerce, Industry, Archaeology, Astronomy, History, Inventive Genius, Architecture, Law, Primacy of Navigation, Sculpture, Mathematics, Genius of Theatre, Chemistry, Press, Medicine, Geography, Physics, Genius of Poetry, Painting and Military Genius”

On the sides of staircases “Four groups of Dioscuri” by Publio Morbiducci (1889/1963)

PALACE OF THE SAVINGS BANK OF ROME

PALAZZO DELLA CASSA DI RISPARMIO DI ROMA

Via del Corso 320

1867/74 Antonio Cipolla (1822/74) in homage to the style of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger

In honor of its architect the palace is also known as PALAZZO CIPOLLA

It was built on the site of the destroyed Palazzo di S. Giacomo degli Incurabili from which the CAFFÈ VENEZIANO opened onto Via del Corso

From 1725 to 1868 it was a haunt of writers and Roman aristocrats

Restored 1933 by Alfredo Energici (1894/?) and Antonio Petrignani

Restored again by Clemente Busiri Vici (1887/1965) e Pompeo Coltellacci

It is now occupied by the FONDAZIONE MUSEO DI ROMA (Museum Foundation of Rome) that organizes temporary exhibitions

ROOM OF THE COUNCIL

Ceiling with painting “Saving, Abundance and Peace” of the second half of the nineteenth century by Domenico Bruschi (1840/1910)

PALACE OF THE SAVING BANKS AND POST OFFICE

PALAZZO DELLA CASSA DI RISPARMIO E DELLE POSTE

Piazza Dante Alighieri 25

End of nineteenth century by the Belgian Luigi Rolland (about 1898/1914), father of Luigi Moretti

In the GARDENS IN PIAZZA DANTE there should have been a monument to Dante, but it was never done

Since 2007 the gardens are dedicated to Mary Begum and his little son Hasib, both dead for an accidental fire in the nearby Via Buonarroti

PALACE OF THE CHANCELLERY

PALAZZO DELLA CANCELLERIA

Piazza della Cancelleria/Corso Vittorio Emanuele II

Begun in 1485 and finished between 1511 and 1513 (about 27 years) for Cardinal Raffaele Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

In 1483 Cardinal Riario had become the titular cardinal of the church of S. Lorenzo in Damaso around which the palace was built

Cardinal Riario had won 14,000 gold ducats (the equivalent of almost one million Euros today) in one night of gambling with Franceschetto Cybo the nephew of his uncle's successor, Innocent VIII Cybo (1484/92) but the works for the palace required more than double that figure

Some of the marble used to build it was taken from the Colosseum, the Arc of Gordian and other ancient Roman monuments

FAÇADE 1495

Towards Campo de' Fiori CORNER WITH CURVED BALCONY finely carved maybe by Andrea Bregno (1418/1503)

PORTAL of 1589 by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) with columns and heraldic elements of Cardinal Alessandro Peretti

Influence of Donato Bramante (1444/1514) who almost certainly designed the courtyard and maybe participated in the final phase of construction, with maybe Antonio Montecavallo brother of Andrea Bregno as director of the works

Surely there was also the influence of Leon Battista Alberti (1406/72), even though he died in 1472, but the attribution of the architect of this masterpiece of the Renaissance “is one of the greatest mysteries of Italian architecture” (Peter Murray)

In 1517 it was confiscated to the Riario family who was involved in the conspiracy against Leo X Medici (1513/21) and became the seat of the Cancelleria Apostolica (Apostolic Chancery), known as “new” to distinguish it from the “old” that was in the nearby Palazzo Sforza

Internal works and renovations at the end of the sixteenth century by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90), in the seventeenth century and especially in the eighteenth century when Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni built a small theater designed by Filippo Juvarra (1678/1736) no longer existing

In 1789 it was the seat of the Tribunal of the Roman Republic proclaimed by Napoleon

In 1849 here was proclaimed the Roman Republic and it was the Seat of the Constituent Assembly

After 1870 it was the Seat of the Cardinal Chancellor with extraterritoriality confirmed by the Lateran Pacts of 1929

Now the palace is the seat of the TRIBUNAL OF THE ROMAN ROTA, of the PONTIFICAL ROMAN ACADEMY OF ARCHAEOLOGY and of the PONTIFICAL COMMISSION FOR THE CULTURAL HERITAGE OF THE CHURCH

Michelangelo Buonarroti lived here for about five years when he arrived in 1496 at the age of 21 in Rome, the period when he sculpted the “Pietà”

“The refined monumentality of Palazzo Riario is not dependent, but certainly in relation with the structural rhetoric and the tendency for grandeur of the paintings of Melozzo da Forlì as well as with the type of archaeological culture that prevailed in Rome at the end of 1400s” (Giulio Carlo Argan )

FIRST FLOOR

RIARIA ROOM (or AULA MAGNA)

It was decorated in 1718

On the back wall “Clock Dial” by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709)

HALL OF THE 100 DAYS

Frescoes on the walls “Allegories and stories of Paul III Farnese (1534/49)” 1546 by Giorgio Vasari (1511/74) and assistants

It is said that when Vasari showed Michelangelo the frescos boasting that he painted them in only 100 days, the master replied, “It shows!”

In the apartment of the cardinals CHAPEL OF THE PALLIUM with stucco and paintings “Saints” and three little scenes: “Beheading of John the Baptist”, “Conversion of St. Paul” and “Martyrdom of St. Lawrence” 1548 by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63)

“Especially in the Martyrdom the breakdown of the figures comes alive according to the model of the ancient reliefs: this provides a further peculiarity to the fresco, that is, the extension in length of the format. (...) In the Beheading there is a pleasing harmony between figures and background” (Hermann Voss)

STUDIO

In the vault “Biblical Scenes” by Pietro Bonaccorsi aka Perin del Vaga (1501/47)

HEATER

Bath in the shape of a Greek cross 1515/20 maybe by Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546)

In the vault “Pergola” maybe by Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL EXPLORATIONS

In about 1940 important ancient pieces were found: the “Altar of the Vicomagistri” and “Relief of the Chancellery” now in the Gregorian Profane Museum in the Vatican, a Mithraeum, a section of the Eurispes, artificial canal that connected the Stagnum Agrippae with the Tiber and the “Tomb of Consul Aulus Hirtius”

PALACE OF CHALCOGRAPHY

PALAZZO DELLA CALCOGRAFIA

Via della Stamperia 6

1835/37 Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) for Gregory XVI Cappellari (1831/46)

It is the seat of the ISTITUTO NAZIONALE PER LA GRAFICA (National Institute for Graphics)

There are exhibition halls, a reading room and offices

The Cabinet of Prints is located in the adjacent Palazzo Poli also home of the institution

About 23,500 drawings and 110,000 prints from the sixteenth to the nineteenth century and 2,000 copper plates including some engraved by G.B. Piranesi and Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

In addition, drawings and prints from the National Chalcography: about 1,600 drawings e 28,000 prints

Also on display are tools for cutting, machinery and ancient presses

The printing activity is still active, albeit not continuously

The institute also has a photographic documentary archive and a historical photo library with works by the most important artists in the history of nineteenth-century Italian photography

PALACE OF THE STOCK EXCHANGE

PALAZZO DELLA BORSA

Piazza di Pietra 91a

Temple of Hadrian transformed in 1695 by Carlo Fontana (1634/1714) and his son Francesco Fontana (1668/1708) in the headquarters of the Dogana di Terra (Land Customs Office) for Innocent XII Pignatelli (1691/1700)

Modified in 1879 by Virginio Vespignani (1808/82) to become the headquarters of the Camera di Commercio e della Borsa Valori (Chamber of Commerce and Stock Exchange)

Renovated in 1928 by Tullio Passarelli (1869/1941) who made the columns more visible
Tempio di Adriano

Temple of Hadrian

Embedded in the Palazzo della Borsa

Dedicated in 145 AD by Antoninus Pius (138/161) to his predecessor Hadrian (117/138)

Temple peripteral octastyle (surrounded by columns of which eight on the front) with thirteen columns on the long sides of which there are eleven left in white marble Proconnesian (Marmara Sea, Turkey) 15 m (49 feet) high on a podium of about 4 m (13 feet)

It was preceded by a staircase at the entrance on the east side that was facing towards the Via Lata, the present Via del Corso

Inside the building there are the remains of the coffered vault of the cella, the internal room

Embedded in the base inside the cella “Marble reliefs of provinces subject to Rome” were found, now in the courtyard of the Palace of the Conservatives, in Palazzo Massimo, and in the National Museum of Naples

“The formal and iconographic precedents date back to the ‘nationes’ of Pompey and even before, but conceptually the difference is substantial, because these are not peoples subjected by the victorious emperor, but the reality of the empire that surrounds the prince, and that at his death is symbolically present together with the Roman people, to assist him being accepted among the gods: no longer the Italy of Augustus, but an ecumenical conception of Rome and a first step towards the not so distant granting of the citizenship to anybody living in the provinces” (Francesca de Caprariis and Fausto Zevi)

Around the temple there was maybe a large ARCADED SQUARE of about 100 x 90 m (328 x 295 feet) with columns of yellow marble from Tunisia and on the side facing the Via Lata there was a MONUMENTAL ARCH which contained two reliefs, one now in Palace of the Conservatives and one in Palazzo Torlonia

PALACE OF THE NATIONAL BANK OF WORK

PALAZZO DELLA BANCA NAZIONALE DEL LAVORO

Via Vittorio Veneto 119

1936 Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960) in the Functionalist or Rationalist style softened by the light and shade of the bricks in the façade

Frescoes by Achille Funi (1890/1972) and Amerigo Bartoli Natinguerra (1890/1971) representing the “Humble work of man”

Inside there is a small treasure of art masterpieces including:

“Judith and Holofernes” by Lorenzo Lotto (about 1480/1556)

“Madonna Albani” by Federico Fiori aka Barocci (1535/1612)

“Capriccio” by Giovanni Antonio Canal aka Canaletto (1697/1768)

The modern times are represented with paintings by Jean-Baptiste Camille Corot (1796/1875), Giorgio Morandi (1890/1964) and Gino Severini (1883/1966)

PALACE OF THE BANK OF ITALY

PALAZZO DELLA BANCA D'ITALIA

Via Nazionale 90/91

1887/1892 Gaetano Koch (1849/1910)

Offices of the senior management of the bank, some departments of the central administration and “Paolo Baffi” library

ROOM OF THE COUNCIL

Frescoes by Giulio Bargellini (1896/1936)

Museo della Moneta

Museum of Coins

Selection of about 40 tablets of Mesopotamian origin. Studies of these tablets proved that from the third millennium BC silver and gold were used as means of payment, measure of value and store of wealth

About 800 coins in gold, silver, copper and alloy from the ancient Greek period to modern times, including “Silver Stater of King Croesus” 561/546 BC

450 notes and paper documents

ODDO COLLECTION with over 3,800 pieces of gold, silver, copper and alloy from emissions of southern Italy and Sicily referring to the period from the fall of the Western Roman Empire to modern age

PALACE OF THE ITALIAN COMMERCIAL BANK

PALAZZO DELLA BANCA COMMERCIALE ITALIANA

Via del Corso 226

1916/27 designed by the Milanese Luca Beltrami (1854/1933) who was also the architect of the Vatican Pinacoteca and the restorer of important buildings such as Palazzo Marino and the Torre del Filarete of the Castello Sforzesco in Milan as well as the Bell Tower in Piazza S. Marco in Venice

The project by Beltrami was executed under the direction of Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960)

The seventeenth century Palazzo Lanci Bonaccorsi was demolished to build the palace

PALACE OF THE GEOLOGICAL OFFICE

PALAZZO DELL'UFFICIO GEOLOGICO

Largo S. Susanna 13

1873/80 Raffaele Canevari (1828/1900)

“Girders and beams of iron, cast iron columns, bolts and studs in sight. Raffaele Canevari, engineer, used these new materials for their functionality and transformed them into decorative elements” (Irene de Guttry)

“In this work, totally his own, which is undoubtedly his best architectural job, the technical and structural innovations and the ruthlessness of the formal language make the building comparable to contemporary European examples, freed, as it appears, of academic weight” (Guido Miano - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

Institution founded in Florence in 1869 and moved to Rome in 1873 to complete the geological Italian map

In 1960 the Geological Office became the organ of the state mapping for geological and geothematic mapping

In 1976 the official geological coverage of the national territory in scale of 1:100,000 was completed

In 2002 the Geological Survey merged in the Agenzia per la Protezione dell'Ambiente e per i Servizi Tecnici (Agency for Environmental Protection and Technical Services) (APAT, later ISPRA), representing mainly the Dipartimento per la Difesa del Suolo (Department for the Defense of the Soil)

In 2002 during renovation works in the basement of the building a section of the original Servian Walls in blocks of cappellaccio stone was found, proof that their dating can be fixed without a doubt to the mid-sixth century BC

For the reconstruction of the walls in 378 BC Grotta Oscura tufa was used instead

GEOLOGICAL MUSEUM

Collection of about 150,000 artifacts accumulated in about 140 years of life of the institution: marbles and paleontological materials with specialized library and laboratory for analysis of minerals and rocks

The museum and the whole building have been lying for years in conditions of extreme neglect for the disgusting inefficiency or willful misconduct of the public administration that has dismantled the museum for a renovation that never happened, despite two governments have allocated public money to complete it. Another disgrace of the caste which sadly administers Italy

In front of the palace

Small section of the Servian Walls dating to 378 BC

Monument “Janus in the heart of Rome” 1997 by Pietro Consagra (1920)

PALACE OF THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR MATERNITY AND INFANCY

PALAZZO DELL'OPERA NAZIONALE MATERNITÀ E INFANZIA

Lungotevere Ripa 1

1939 Cesare Valle (1902/2000)

“Determined talent for architecture, teaching vocation, natural predisposition towards urban issues, but mainly invincible involvement in the programs, in the urgency to solve problems: the story of Cesare Valle is magnetized between these different options” (Website the Ministry of Heritage and Culture - Portal Architects - www.architetti.san.beniculturali.it)

PALACE OF THE ROMAN INSTITUTE OF REAL ESTATE

PALAZZO DELL'ISTITUTO ROMANO DI BENI STABILI

Piazza Colonna

1915/22 Dario Carbone (about 1857/1934) in a monumental and celebratory Eclectic style in the area previously occupied by the demolished Palazzo Boncompagni Piombino of the end of the sixteenth century

The Boncompagni were allowed to rebuild their own building in the area of the Villa Ludovisi, the Palazzo Boncompagni, later Palazzo Margherita, now U.S. Embassy

It was completed and modified in 1940 by Alberto Calza Bini (1881/1957)

Better known as GALLERIA COLONNA and, since 2003, as GALLERIA ALBERTO SORDI in honor of the Roman actor who died in the same year

It is surprising for the contrast between the ornate monumental exterior and the vast comfortable interior space of the gallery

“I told myself to respect a principle (of great value to the public): if the people of Rome used to enjoy as public land the existing dirt area, well, it was necessary that the architect would leave just as much area as public passage in the building to be constructed” (Dario Carbone)

On the central pediment sculptures:

“Groups of Industry” by Giuseppe Guastalla (1867/1952)

“Groups of Commerce” by Ercole Drei (1886/1973)

Interior decorated by Ulisse Stacchini (1871/1947)