TEMPLE OF SERAPIS

TEMPIO DI SERAPIDE
Piazza del Quirinale

Built by Caracalla (211/217)
It was the largest temple of ancient Rome and perhaps in the world together with the Temple of Venus and Rome, of similar size:

135 x 98 m (443 x 322 feet) with an area of 13,230 m² (3.25 acres)
The columns had a diameter of nearly 2 m (6.5 feet) and were 21.17 m (70 feet) high

Serapis was a Greek-Egyptian god, whose cult was introduced in Alexandria by Ptolemy I, who built there the Serapeum
There are conflicting theories about the origins of the deity: the most reliable are the Sinopitic-Babylonian origin (Sinope is in northern Turkey) and the Memphis origin connected with Osiris-Apis 
For the syncretistic phenomenon typical of the Hellenistic age, it was identified with various Greek gods, especially Zeus

In the nearby Villa Colonna there is the largest architectural element existing in Rome of 34 sqm (366 square feet) and weighing 100 tons (110 tons)

Important statues found in the nearby Baths of Constantine were probably part of the decoration of the temple:

“Two Dioscuri” now in Piazza del Quirinale
Two colossal river gods “Tiber”, originally the Tigris River, later transformed with the addition of the twins, and “Nile”, both now in Piazza del Campidoglio

QUIRINAL PALACE (eighth part)

TEN ROOMS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

BRONZINO'S ROOM

Ten tapestries displayed in rotation with “History of Joseph Jew” 1546 three of which designed by Jacopo Carrucci aka Pontormo (1494/1556) and the others by Agnolo di Cosimo Tori aka Bronzino (1503/72) commissioned by Cosimo I de' Medici for the Room of the Two-Hundreds in Palazzo Vecchio in Florence, where are the other ten of the series are

“In these tapestries the tormented artificiality of Pontormo reaches its peak. The simplicity of the subject does not raise virtually any concern in the artist, who has become more and more convoluted and self-effacing. (...) The tapestries have a figurative pattern compressed in the vertical direction, with no clear structure or content. It is not surprising that Cosimo and the heads of the Tapestries' factory would no longer employ Pontormo” (Hermann Voss)

ROOM OF DRUSUS

SMALL PASSAGE OF URBAN VIII

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

ROOM OF THE TAPESTRIES OF LILLE

Five tapestries 1715/20 by Guillaume Werniers from models by David Teniers the Younger (1610/90)

SMALL NAPOLEONIC LIVING ROOM

PIFFETTI LIBRARY

MUSIC ROOM

ROOM OF PEACE

ROOM OF VICTORY

ROOM OF THE DAMES

Beautiful frieze “Triumph of Alexander the Great” 1812 by Bertel Thorvaldsen (1770/1844)

“Admirable work for the lightness of ornament and for the variety of attitudes in the long procession inspired by the reliefs of the Parthenon” (Carlo Bertelli, Giuliano Briganti, Antonio Giuliano)

Chapel of Pius IX

In the MANICA LUNGA (Long Wing) with five major paintings:

On the right “Madonna with Saints” 1603 maybe by Innocenzo Tacconi (active in Rome 1607/25) and “The Birth of the Virgin” 1643 by Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669)

On the altar “Mystic Marriage of St. Catherine of Alexandria with Sts. Jerome and Lucy” 1779 by Pompeo Batoni (1708/87)

On the left “Annunciation” by Carlo Maratta 1673 (1625/1713) and “Apparition of the Virgin to St. Lawrence” 1617 by Giovanni Lanfranco (1582/1647)

Garden

“Fountain of the organ” 1596 with hydraulic parts by Giovanni Fontana (1540/1614), brother of Domenico Fontana and expert in hydraulic, with decorations by Giovanni da Neri for Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605)

QUIRINAL PALACE (first part)

PALAZZO DEL QUIRINALE

Piazza del Quirinale

1573/77 begun by Martino Longhi the Elder (1534/91) as the summer residence of the popes

It was built over the demolished fifteenth-century villa of Cardinal Oliviero Carafa which had later belonged to Orazio Farnese, nephew of Paul III (1534/49), and to Cardinal Ippolito d'Este

1578/85 continued by Ottaviano Nonni aka Ottaviano Mascherino (1524/1606), who designed the so-called PALAZZINA GREGORIANA (Gregorian Small Palace) for Gregory XIII Boncompagni (1572/85)

It would later be used as accommodation, first for the kings of Italy and later for the Presidents of the Republic

Under Alexander VII Chigi (1655/67) Pietro Berrettini aka Pietro da Cortona (1597/1669) directed the decorations in the Gallery of Alexander VII

It was the PAPAL RESIDENCE for 278 years, from 1592 with Clement VIII Aldobrandini (1592/1605) until 1870 when it became the residence of the Savoy family

In 1938 Adolf Hitler was a guest on the main floor of the small palace built by Mascherino under the clock tower and, for the occasion, restorations were carried out and new marble floors were made

Since 1947 it has been the RESIDENCE OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE ITALIAN REPUBLIC

It was built on the site of the ancient TEMPLE OF SALUS

EXTERIOR OF THE PALACE

WING FACING THE SQUARE AND FAÇADE

1589 Domenico Fontana (1543/1607) for Sixtus V Peretti (1585/90)

WING FACING THE GARDEN

1609/11 Flaminio Ponzio (1560/1613) for Paul V Borghese (1605/21)

WING FACING VIA DEL QUIRINALE

1615/17 Carlo Maderno (1556/1629) also for Paul V, in place of the deceased Flaminio Ponzio

TOWER

1626 Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598/1680) for Urban VIII Barberini (1623/44)

1615 PORTAL by Carlo Maderno

1638 BENEDICTION LOGGIA by Gian Lorenzo Bernini

“Statue of St. Peter” by Stefano Maderno (1560/1636) and “Statue of St. Paul” by Guillaume Berthelot (about 1570/1648)

Manica Lunga (Long Wing)

Begun 1659 by Bernini, continued by Alessandro Specchi (1668/1729) and finished by Ferdinando Fuga (1699/1782) who was also responsible for the construction, at the short north end of the wing, of a BUILDING FOR OFFICES OF THE SEGRETARIO DELLE CIFRE (Accounting Secretary) who used to take care of the diplomatic correspondence of the Holy See