Wednesday, June 8, 2016

CHIGI PALACE

PALAZZO CHIGI

Formerly known as the Palazzo Aldobrandini from the name of the family that in 1578 bought several buildings pre-existing in the area
1580/86 Matteo Bartolani da Città di Castello (about 1527/about 1598) with the help of Giacomo Della Porta (1533/1602) and Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) for the Aldobrandini family
Continued 1623/26 for Cardinal G.B. Deti, related to the Aldobrandini, who lived in the wing on Via del Corso
Bought in 1659 by the princes Mario and Agostino Chigi and completed in 1661 by Felice Della Greca (1626/77) and from 1677 by G.B. Contini (1641/1723)
ATTIC 1696
PORTAL ON PIAZZA COLONNA 1739
Since 1870 the Chigi family rented it to the Austrian government and from 1878 it was the Austrian Embassy
They sold it to the Italian State in 1916 and since then it has been the Ministry of the Colonies, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and, since 1961, the seat of the PRESIDENZA DEL CONSIGLIO DEI MINISTRI (Presidency of the Council of Ministers)
Mussolini also lived there before moving to Palazzo Venezia and made some speeches from the balcony on the corner between Piazza Colonna and Via del Corso. That corner was therefore defined by the fascist propaganda like the Prow of Italy
COURTYARD
Felice Della Greca with fountain of 1740
STAIRCASE
1659/61 by Felice Della Greca with ancient sculptures
ROOM OF THE GLOBES
Two “Wooden Globes” 1636 and 1632 representing the terrestrial sphere and the celestial sphere
HALL OF THE COUNCIL OF MINISTERS
Frieze with “Landscapes and female figures” 1665 by Giovanni Paolo Schor (1615/74)
Tapestries on the walls by artists of the school of Peter Paul Rubens (1577/1640)
GOLDEN HALL
1765/67 stunning decorations made by a team of artists led by Giovanni Stern (1734/94) (father of Raffaele Stern) including Luigi Valadier (1726/85) who did the metal decorations
Wonderful explosion of eighteenth-century decorative glory executed for the wedding of Prince Sigismondo Chigi with Maria Flaminia Odescalchi
In the ceiling “Diana and Endymion” 1668 by G.B. Gaulli aka Baciccio (1639/1709) moved here from Palazzo Odescalchi
Above the doors “Landscapes” by the Flemish Jean de Momper (1614/88)
GALLERY OF THE CEREMONIAL APARTMENT
Paintings by Flaminio Allegrini (1587/1663)
ROOMS OF THE MARINE AND OF THE COUNTRYSIDE LANDSCAPES
The Marine Room is the dining room of the President of the Council of Ministers
Frescoes by the French Adrien Manglard (1695/1760) who specialized in this type of paintings. Brilliant illusionistic perspectives with fake architecture around doors and windows
Adrien Manglard moved twenty years old from Lyon to Rome, where he remained for the rest of his life. It is another gem of eighteenth-century Rome unfortunately hidden from the public
CHIGI LIBRARY
G.B. Contini for Prince Agostino Chigi
The collection of 26,000 works was given by Mussolini to the pope in 1923, but the fine shelves of the end of the seventeenth century are still intact

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