PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF NAVY

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DELLA MARINA

Lungotevere delle Navi 17

Designed in 1912 by Giulio Magni (1859/1930) grandson of Giuseppe Valadier

Built in the years 1914/28

It is also known as PALAZZO MARINA (Navy Palace)

Surface of 31,000 m² (7.7 acres)

It is now the seat of the GENERAL STAFF OF THE ITALIAN NAVY

On either side of the entrance there are the anchors of the Austrian battleships Tegetthoff and Viribus Unitis

“Paolo Portoghesi has read in Magni's professional journey a moment of uncertainty in the formative period powered by a creative 'restlessness' that never reached a consistent formal development, followed by the stage of international activity, of maturation occurred in contact with the Central European culture. This period of research is a prelude to the more fertile season of the Roman architect that ends up with the academic period of the last works” (Giuseppe Strappa)

PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY, TRADE AND HANDICRAFT

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DELL'INDUSTRIA, COMMERCIO E ARTIGIANATO

Via Vittorio Veneto 33

1928/32 Marcello Piacentini (1881/1960) and Giuseppe Vaccaro (1896/1970) on land originally occupied by orchards and convent of the Capuchin friars of S. Mary of the Immaculate Conception

Formerly known as PALAZZO DELLE CORPORAZIONI FASCISTE (Palace of the Fascist Guilds) now MINISTERO DELLO SVILUPPO ECONOMICO (Palace of the Ministry of Economic Development)

“The Palace of Guilds would distance itself from the image of a sort of 'palace of bureaucracy' and would want instead to be seen as a vindication of the modern and efficient over the obsolete and cumbersome. It was constantly proved by the choice of materials and of the most innovative equipment in the offices: the linoleum floors, elevators protected by shatterproof glass instead of grates, the pneumatic post, the blinds instead of the shutters, heating with oil instead of coal are all aspects of functionalism constantly sought by the architects. With regard to the outside, instead, the accentuated verticalism shown at the entrance, the presence of the two corner turrets, the use of the coating in travertine slabs and in stone from Montecompatri refer rather to the image of a medieval fortress, as well as medieval was the implicit reference in the concept of the guilds” (Official Website of the Ministry of Economic Development - www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it)

Bronze portal with eight bronze panels of Giovanni Prini (1877/1958)

Frieze of red marble by Antonio Maraini (1886/1963) for the balcony above the entrance

Large glass in the atrium “Charter of Labor” 1931/32 by Mario Sironi (1885/1961)

“A dramatic and amazing artifact (...): the grim tale of the window, which denies the light and the quality of the glass rather than enhance its possibilities, is 'monument', and it is the true epic note inside the building. The glass also proposes, in the two side panels, a very personal variation of the guilds: renouncing to any didactic statement, as more general symbols of man, the usual figures of Agriculture, Trade and Industry are accompanied by Construction, Sculpture and Art” (Official Website of the Ministry of Economic Development - www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it)

Seven large tapestries in the Hall of Honor “Guilds” by the brothers Pio Eroli (1903/80) and Silvio Eroli (1904) from cartoons by Ferruccio Ferrazzi (1891/1978)

Painting “Venetian Summary” by Fortunato Depero (1892/1960)

Painting “Madonna of the Air” by Enrico Prampolini (1894/1956)

“A rare example of religious subjects applied to the cosmic and spatial aero-painting by Prampolini. The concept of metamorphosis, the becoming substance, the creating of sidereal shapes-forces - which underpins the research of the artist in those years - create a successful and unpublished partnership with the theme of the Virgin and of her motherhood” (Official Website of the Ministry of Economic Development - www.sviluppoeconomico.gov.it)

In this building there are many works of art and craft by great Italian artists including:

Romano Romanelli (1882/1968), Gio Ponti (1891/1979), Francesco Messina (1900/95), Francesco Trombadori (1886/1961), Roberto Melli (1885/1958), Luciano Minguzzi (1911/2004), Fausto Pirandello (1899/1975) and others

PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF AIR-FORCE

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DELL'AERONAUTICA

Viale dell'Università 4

1929/31 Roberto Marino (1900/85), who followed the design guidelines of the politician and fascist general Italo Balbo, Minister of the Air-Force

The Ministry of Air-Force was established in 1925 by Benito Mussolini and merged in 1947 by the third government of Alcide De Gasperi into the Ministry of Defense

It is now the headquarters of the GENERAL STAFF OF THE ITALIAN AIR-FORCE

PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF TRANSPORTATION

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DEI TRASPORTI

Piazza della Croce Rossa 1

1927 Pompeo Passerini (1875/?) in the area of the demolished Villa Patrizi

In the garden “Monument to the railwaymen who died for their country” 1930 by Arturo Dazzi (1881/1966)

It is now one of the two office buildings of the MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION

PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF PUBLIC WORKS

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DEI LAVORI PUBBLICI

Piazzale di Porta Pia 1

1911/25 Pompeo Passerini (1875/?)

The construction was completed in 1931

It is now one of the two office buildings of the MINISTRY OF INFRASTRUCTURE AND TRANSPORTATION

PALACE OF THE MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

PALAZZO DEL MINISTERO DEGLI ESTERI

Piazzale della Farnesina 1

Also known as La Farnesina from the name of the area that was property of the Farnese family

Begun in 1938 as Palazzo del Littorio (Palace of the Lictor, the officer bearing the fasces in ancient Rome) by Enrico Del Debbio (1891/1973), Arnaldo Foschini (1884/1968) and Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo (1890/1966)

Discontinued in 1943 due to the war and completed in 1956

“In a sense, it resumed the self-contradictions of Italian architecture towards the end of the thirties, when the stimuli and the openings to a renewal that had seemed possible in some cases, were in fact undermined and resized by the monumental involution of rhetorical and representative architecture desired by the fascist regime” (Enrico Valeriani - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

In front of the palace FOUNTAIN by Enrico Del Debbio with “Big Sphere” 1968 by Arnaldo Pomodoro (1926)

PIAZZA DELLA FARNESINA (Farnesina Square) driveway opened in the years 1998/2002 by Umberto Riva (1928)

It is the largest palace in Rome with about 1,200 rooms on 120,000 square meters (29.6 acres) and 720,000 cubic meters (25.4 million cubic feet)

The cubic square footage is similar to that of the Royal Palace of Caserta and they share tied the record for the largest palace of Italy

Ceilings of the main rooms decorated with gilded stucco by the Hungarian Amerigo Tot (1909/84) and by Alberto Bevilacqua and with wood by Giorgio Quaroni (1907/60)

Since 2000, it houses a collection of Italian contemporary art with over 200 works including paintings, sculptures, mosaics and installations

PALACE OF THE NEWSPAPER MESSAGGERO

PALAZZO DEL MESSAGGERO

Via del Tritone 152

1910/15 Arturo Pazzi (XIX/XX centuries) as Hotel Select

It is the seat since 1920 of Il Messaggero, the best-selling newspaper in Rome

GRILLO NICOLIS DE ROBILANT PALACE

PALAZZO DEL GRILLO NICOLIS DE ROBILANT

Piazza del Grillo 5

1675 for the marquis Cosmo del Grillo

It incorporated the TORRE MILIZIOLA (Small Militia Tower) of 1223 maybe by Marchionne Aretino. The tower is so called to distinguish it from the nearby larger Torre delle Milizie (Militia Tower)

In the nineteenth century it became the property of the Nicolis de Robilant family that raised the palace by adding the roof garden

It hosted the studio of the Sicilian painter Renato Guttuso (1911/87) who died here and it was the home of the soprano Anna Moffo

In the GARDEN there are five fountains: Vessel, Crouching Figures, Neptune and two fountains with Mascheroni (big masks)

PALACE OF THE OLD GOVERNMENT

PALAZZO DEL GOVERNO VECCHIO

Via del Governo Vecchio 39

1473/77 for Cardinal Stefano Nardini appointed governor of Rome by Pope Paul II Barbo (1464/71)

It is also known as Palazzo Nardini

Cardinal Nardini donated it in 1475 to the Pio Ospedale del Salvatore in Laterano (Devout Hospital of the Saviour at the Lateran) to use it as headquarters of the Academy of Arts and Humanities

In 1624 the Hospital of the Savior gave the palace to the Apostolic Chamber for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44) had decided to use it as the seat of the Governor of Rome

In 1755 Benedict XIV Lambertini (1740/58) moved all the offices in the new Government Palace, i.e. Palazzo Madama, and Palazzo Nardini became the Palazzo del Governo Vecchio (Palace of the Old Government), whose name was later transferred also to the street

From 1870 it was the seat of the Pretura Civile (District Civil Court)

Since 1964 it belongs to the city of Rome and it is abandoned and awaiting resettlement

In 1977 the film Doppio Delitto (Double Murder) was shot here, with Marcello Mastroianni, Peter Ustinov and Ursula Andress from the book Doppia morte al Governo Vecchio (Double Death at the Old Government)

PALACE OF THE BANNER

PALAZZO DEL GONFALONE

Via del Gonfalone 29

1827 Giuseppe Valadier (1762/1839) for Leo XII Sermattei (1823/29) as PRISON for young minors who were confined in forty cells

It was no longer used as a prison since 1854 for its limited capacity and the young prisoners were transferred to the former Monastery of S. Balbina

Museo Criminologico

Museum of Criminality

Open since 1975

Renovated in 1994 after fifteen years of closure

On display there are tools with which crimes were carried out and also instruments of pain and torture, including:

Infamous “Iron Maiden”

“Coat of Mastro Titta” the notorious Roman executioner

“Guillotine of Castel Sant'Angelo” used for the first time in 1810 during the Napoleonic domination. Only in the first three years it cut as many as 56 heads. It was also used by the Papal State from 1816. The last execution by guillotine at the behest of the Pope took place in 1870 in Palestrina

“Axe for decapitation” found near Castel Sant'Angelo

“Sword of Justice” probably the one that beheaded the poor Beatrice Cenci in 1599

Bodies of evidence of some famous robberies in Italy after World War Two

Macabre skeleton of a woman of about 30 years of age, who lived in the sixteenth century, found in 1933 in a cell tower in Poggio Catino in the province of Rieti. The identity of the woman is unknown but she was bound hand and foot and probably died of starvation

“Brain and skull of Giovanni Passannante” author in 1878 of a failed assassination attempt on the King of Italy Umberto I

“Cage of Milazzo” found in 1928 in the castle of Milazzo in Sicily with skeleton probably of the British soldier Andrew Leonard of 25 years of age. In 1806, during the Napoleonic wars, he was probably condemned for desertion to the cutting of hands and feet and he was exhibited in the cage

“Objects which belonged to the bandit Giuliano” killed in Sicily in 1950

GALLO DI ROCCAGIOVINE PALACE

PALAZZO DEL GALLO DI ROCCAGIOVINE

Piazza Farnese 44

1520/27 Baldassarre Peruzzi (1481/1536) for Ugo Spina

Renovated about 1720 by the brilliant Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) for Alessandro Pighini and formerly known as Palazzo Pighini

Since the nineteenth century it is owned by the Gallo di Roccagiovine family still living in the building

A recent restoration has brought back the original sky color typical of many eighteenth-century buildings, unfortunately, often darkened by layers of paint applied in the nineteenth century

In the courtyard there is a spectacular staircase over three floors that the genius of Alessandro Specchi wanted visible and external, breaking with the tradition of noble staircases not visible and internal

RECREATIONAL CLUB FOR RAILWAYS WORKERS

PALAZZO DEL DOPOLAVORO FERROVIARIO

Via Bari 20

1925/29 Angiolo Mazzoni Del Grande (1894/1979) and Efisio Vodret

External decorations by Attilio Selva (1888/1970), Pietro Melandri (1885/1976) and Napoleone Martinuzzi (1892/1977)

Interior decorations by Pietro Vigni and Pietro Melandri

It is partly occupied by the TEATRO ITALIA active with drama, opera and ballet

“Mazzoni was considered a Futurist architect especially for his polychromy and his 'polimateria' as he used to describe a wide range of materials and colors used for his accomplishments. (...) In fact, the experimentation and the variety of figurative results that characterize the work of Mazzoni make it difficult to reduce his language to a single common denominator. Proof of this is his particular method adopted in the preparation and presentation of projects; usually he would propose a series of solutions in different styles: classicist for the regime, traditionalist required by the local administrations, modern according to his personal sensitivity” (Alessandra Capanna - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

PALACE OF THE BANK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

PALAZZO DEL BANCO DI S. SPIRITO

Via del Banco di S. Spirito 31

1521/25 Antonio Cordini aka Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483/1546)

Formerly known as Palazzo della Zecca (Palace of the Mint)

Statues on the façade “Charity” and “Abundance”

“Accentuated interests in spatial urban function with the assertion of a vigorous and non-inert 'classical' style inspired by Bramante and Raphael appear in the façade of the Mint, certainly conceived for viewers coming from Ponte S. Angelo. (...) Cordini exhibits a controlled search of novelty and monumental expression animated by the concavity of the front and showing proportional contrasts in the definition of linguistic elements and decorations. (...) Despite some uncertainties, a finally reached maturity, in the full domain of his personal language, characterizes this work generally considered by the scholars as one of the highest expressions of Cordini's activity” (Arnaldo Bruschi - Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani Treccani)

The mint remained here until 1541 and the building was thereafter known as Zecca vecchia (Old Mint)

In 1667 it became the headquarters of the BANCO DI SANTO SPIRITO (Bank of the Holy Spirit) changing name with internal adjustments by Giovanni Tommaso Ripoli for the new function

The Banco di Santo Spirito was founded in 1605 by Paul V Borghese (1605/21): it offered rudimentary banking services but it gained a huge success having as guarantee the funds of the nearby Ospedale S. Spirito (Hospital of the Holy Spirit)

It is still a bank today with a branch of Unicredit which incorporated the Banco di S. Spirito

PALACE OF THE HOLY APOSTLES

PALAZZO DEI SS. APOSTOLI

Piazza dei Ss. Apostoli 51

1478/80 Giuliano Giamberti aka Giuliano da Sangallo (1445/1516) for Cardinal Giuliano Della Rovere who later became Pope Julius II (1503/13)

TWO ADJOINING CLOISTERS

The first dates back to the end of the fifteenth century

The second to the years 1503/12:

Fine marble relief inserted in the wall “Annunciation to the Shepherds, Nativity and Lavender of Christ” by an anonymous sculptor of the fifteenth century

“Fountain” by Domenico Fontana (1543/1607)

“Bronze statue of S. Maximilian Kolbe (1894/1941)”

“Funerary monument of Cardinal Bessarion (1408/72)”

“Cenotaph of Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475/1564 )” who had his first tomb in the adjacent Basilica of the Holy Apostles

The recumbent figure is, in fact, maybe the philosopher Ferdinando Eustachio who died in 1594

On February 18, 1564 the funeral of Michelangelo Buonarroti took place in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles. Eighteen days after the funeral, his nephew Leonardo stole the body and carried it in a cart covered with cloths to Florence, where it was buried in the church of Santa Croce

PALACE OF THE CONFESSORS

PALAZZO DEI PENITENZIERI

Via della Conciliazione 139

Begun in about 1480 maybe by Baccio Pontelli (about 1450/92) for Cardinal Domenico Della Rovere from Turin, distant cousin of Sixtus IV Della Rovere (1471/84)

It hosted the King of France Charles VIII in 1495

After the death of Domenico Della Rovere in 1501 it went to Cardinal Francesco Alidosi who, suspected of treason, was assassinated in 1511 by the Duke of Urbino Francesco Maria Della Rovere, who later lived in the palace himself

Later it belonged to Cardinal Giovanni Salviati

It took its present name for the confessors transferred here by Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67)

Now it is the HOTEL COLUMBUS and the headquarters of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem

Ceiling of the ROOM OF THE DEMIGODS in the right wing with frescoes of mythological figures maybe by Bernardino di Betto aka Pinturicchio (1454/1513) who had also painted the façade with decorations now obviously disappeared

In the other four rooms on the first floor decorations also maybe by Pinturicchio and his school

On the second floor ROOM OF APOLLO with fresco in the ceiling “Apollo driving the horses of the Sun” painted in 1552 maybe by Francesco de' Rossi aka Francesco Salviati (1510/63) for Cardinal Giovanni Salviati