The Palaces of Power

Madama Palace

Made by: Pirani Lucrezia, Cardinale Matteo, Berti Ilaria, Torda Tommaso, Liberati Jacopo.

In the 17th century the Palace was widely restored and the interiors embellished with richly decorated ceilings and friezes. In 1737, on the death of the last Medici, Grand Duke Gian Gastone, the Palace passed to the House of Lorraine. In 1755, it was purchased by Pope Benedict XIV to be used for Papal government departments: the Court, Police Headquarters, the Treasury, and, in 1849 with Pio IX, the Papal Post Office.

After the breach of Porta Pia on 20 september 1870, Palazzo Madama was selected to house the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy. This entailed radical renovation work. The Chamber was built on the former courtyard, and Senate assembled there for its first sitting on November 28th 1871. Palazzo Madama today hosts the Chamber of the Senate, the premises of some of the Parliamentary Groups, the offices of the Presidency and some of the services and offices directly concerned with parliamentary business.

France acquired the land on which Palazzo Madama was built from the monks of the Abbey of Farfa in 1478. In 1505 it was bought by the Medici family, who made a restoration work, and transferred there the works that had been carried from the library of Giovanni de' Medici, the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the future Pope Leo X.When Leo X died, in 1521, the palace was consigned to his cousin Giulio de' Medici, who had lived there for many years before being elected to the Papacy as Pope Clement VII.

In 1534, the palace was inherited by Alessandro de' Medici, the illegitimate son of Giulio de' Medici.After Alessandro's death in 1537, the palace was leased to his wife, "Madama" Margaret ofAustria - hence the Palace's name - who lived there from 1538 to 1580.

History

Description of the palace

Official Courtyard

This is a typical courtyard. Its six columns are the vestiges of the building as it was at the time of Leo X. A statue by Emilio Greco was placed in the centre of the courtyard in 1972. The old travertine floor was replaced by marble.

Monumental Climbs

The Monumental Staircase of St Louis de France, opened in 1931, is surmounted by an imposing ceiling in wood with large recessed panels, dating back to the sixteenth century. The Medici coat of arms can be seen in the centre, dominating the scheme of decorative motifs, mermaids and tritons based on the theme of the battle of the marine gods.

.Ground floor

Maccari Hall

This hall is so-called by the name of the artist who decorated it: Cesare Maccari [1840-1919]. The ceiling has four medallions with allegorical figures, representing commerce, agriculture, arms, science,letters and the arts, arranged around a central motif symbolising Italy.In the frieze, there are sentences by Guicciardini and Machiavelli. The walls are painted with episodes from the history of the Roman Senate: after entering the hall, on the right there is Appius Claudius the Censor while exhorts the Romans not to accept the humiliating conditions for peace imposed by Pyrrhus’ambassador, Cineas.

.First floor

Cicero

On the opposite wall between the windows, is a painting depicting Marcus Papirius. On the other, shorter, side is a fresco showing Cicero delivering his oration against Catiline, who listens from his seat,isolated from the others. The last fresco shows Atilius Regulus leaving Rome, after being captured by the Carthaginians in the Battle of Tunis and sent back to his country to negotiate on condition that he was considered to be a prisoner.

Catilina and Cicero

Senators' Lounge

This is a spacious room, designed by Marucelli, with a ceiling featuring pale stucco figurines and friezes completed in 1931. On a wall is a particularly fine sixteenth-century Medici tapestry, that previously stayed in the Uffizi in Florence. Two paintings by Luciano Ventrone, The Pause [2002] and The Return of Ulysses [2002], grace the other walls.

Italy Hall

This large hall was created by demolishing a dividing wall in the early 1930s. The coffered ceiling is modern, while the frescoed frieze were made in the seventeenth century. Cherubims and lions feature in the part towards the Senators’ Lounge and female figures predominate in the other section. They are all arranged around six historical frescoes.

Giovanni Marucelli, the designer of Senators’ Lounge

Ostrich Hall

This room is characterized by a splendid sixteenth-century coffered ceiling, in the centre of which there is the figure of an ostrich. According to some, the ostrich may have been chosen to symbolise Margaret of Austria’s original lineage, through a play on words between Autriche [Austria] and autruche [ostrich]. Others are convinced, however, that this bird was chosen as a heraldic symbol of speed and precedence. In any event, the ostrich was adopted as an emblem by an important figure in the Medici family who held no religious position, as testified by the crown on the bird’s head.

Risorgimento Hall

This room contains busts and portraits of some of the most important figures of the Italian Risorgimento, in a studied arrangement in which democratic republicans alternate with liberal constitutionalists, the two movements that characterised the Kingdom of Sardinia after 1848. The frieze depicts events from the reign of Clement VII.

Ceiling with the ostrich

Signature Hall

It has this name because senators used to sign an attendance register in this room. The walls are hung with three tapestries from the Medici collection, illustrating the story of Tobit and his son Tobias from the Catholic Bible.

Marconi Hall

A frieze attributed to Pietro Paolo Baldini, describing episodes from the reign of Pius IV, ornates this recently restored room. This Hall contains the busts of Guglielmo Marconi and Pietro Canonica and two paintings by Giovanni Paolo Pannini [1691-1765], which represents views of the Forum and the Baths of Diocletian.

Choir Hall

This room contains busts of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Francesco Saverio Nitti and Luigi Einaudi.

Pietro Baldini, Pio IV

Antechamber of the Balustrade

The wooden ceiling and frieze date from the seventeenth century. On the walls are two works by Biagio Falcieri [1628-1703]: the first depicting Zeuxis, an ancient Greek painter, choosing the most beautiful features of a number of young girls to paint Ideal Beauty; and the second showing Alexander the Great; and one by Carlo Dolci [1616-1686], entitled Salomè with the Head of John the Baptist.

Pannini Hall

This room houses a fresco painted in 1725-26 by Pannini [1691-1765]. In the centre of the ceiling is a Sun Chariot enveloped in thick banks of cloud from which radiate imaginary architecture, aerial perspectives, allegorical figures, putti, amphorae and garlands of flowers. The Senate Bureau and the Conference of Parliamentary Group Leaders meet in this room.

Salomè with the head of John the Baptist

Corridor of the Hero

The more important of the two corridors next to the sitting chamber is the Corridor of the Hero, named after the fresco by Lodovico Giminiani [1643-1697] that decorates the ceiling. In the middle picture, the Hero escorted by Hercules receives the solemn recognition of his feats from Jupiter, who is sitting next to Mars and Venus. The pagan theme of this fresco is a rarity for the historical period in which it was painted.

Cavour Hall

In this room, an oval painting of Bacchus and Ariadne by Giambattista Pittoni [1698-1767] stays in the middle of the coffered ceiling. The room is open to members of the government during sittings and is occasionally used for meetings of the Council of Ministers.

Bacchus and Ariadne

Senate Chamber

The Senate Chamber, designed by Luigi Gabet, occupies the courtyard of the old papal Post Office. In the 1930s, the galleries of the Deputies and Diplomatic Corps were replaced by higher overhanging galleries. Other alterations were also made to the middle aisle to increase the number of seats, but the original structures and the decorations in this room have remained unchanged. The ceiling is the work of little-known artists, and features symbolic representations of Strength, Justice, Concord and Law.

The President's Office

The windows of the office of the President of the Senate in Palazzo Madama overlook the dome of the Baroque Church of Sant’Agnese in Piazza Navona. The room is decorated with a painting from the school of Bonifazio Veronese, Adoration of the Magi, and, on the opposite wall, a portrait of a man by Gerrit van Honthorst [1590-1656], a Dutch Mannerist painter known in Italy as Gherardo delle Notti.

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.Second floor

Bonifacio Veronese, Adorazione dei magi.

There is also a painting on a Gospel theme by the Neapolitan artist Luca Giordano [1632-1705]: Render unto Caesar the Things which are Caesar’s. The fifteenthcentury Virgin and Child with Saint John and Saint Blaise [in the manner of Pinturicchio] is situated between the two windows, and on the opposite wall a tapestry showing Aristotle with his pupil Alexander of Macedonia [the future Alexander the Great].

.The library

.Historical archivesThe Historical Archives contain all documents produced by the Senate of the Kingdom of Italy and the Senate of the Republic. Moreover, the Historical Archives provide a service to culture by making their contents available to scholars (since 10 April 2003) ,and establishing links with public and private archives.

The Senate Library was established in 1848. It has been open to the public since its transfer to Piazza della Minerva on 21 June 2003, and scholars and researchers may now browse through its 600,000 volumes, 3,500 Italian and foreign periodicals, 400 dailies, parliamentary records and Italian and foreign legislation.The Library proudly boasts a collection of Charters of Italian communes, trade and professional associations and other local bodies dating from the Middle Ages to the late 18th century.

The Italian Parliament comprises two Houses: the Chamber of Deputies, and the Senate, which have identical powers. Their primary function is to legislate: by virtue of the vote of confidence, they perform the function of political guidance; they also oversee the Government using their powers of scrutiny.

The Senate.The legislature

Parliament sits in joint session for the election and the swearing-in of the President of the Republic, and in the event of the impeachment of the President, and for the election of some of the members of the Constitutional Court and the Supreme Judicial Council.

The Senate has 315 elected members, who must be at least 40, who are returned by votersaged 25 and over. In addition to the elected Senators, there are also Life Senators, appointed by the Presidentof the Republic from among citizens who have honoured the country with great achievements in the social, scientific, artistic or literary fields, and former Presidents of the Republic who are ex officio Life Senators. The President represents the Senate, oversees the work of its organs, chairs the debates, puts motions to the vote, decides on the voting order and declares the voting results. The Vice Presidents, Quaestors and Senators Secretaries make up the Senate Bureau, the highest decision-making authority on administrative and disciplinary matters. The Bureau appoints the Secretary-General of the Senate, who heads all the Senate departments. Membership of the Parliamentary Groups, which are composed of at least ten members, is based on the political affiliations of Senators. Each Parliamentary Group elects its own Leader and one or more Deputy Leaders and Secretaries. The Group Leaders assist the President in the conduct of business.

.The Senate of Republic

The legislative function is exercised jointly by both Houses. For a Bill to be enacted into law it must be passed by both Houses, with the same wording, before being promulgated by the President of the Republic and published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale (Official Journal). Legislation can be initiated by a Bill tabled by any Member of either House, the Government, the Regional governments and, on some matters, the National Council for the Economy and Labour. The President of the Senate refers Bills to Standing Committees competent by subjectmatter.Committees are small legislative assemblies. In addition to exercising the legislative function, both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies vote on a motion of confidence in the Government, and may do not give their confidence through a motion of no confidence. Senators may also put ‘questions’ and ‘interpellations’ to the Government, to seek Information on specific matters or on the reasons and purposes of its policies on major or general issues.

.The work of Senate

During the years, the Senate has promoted a number of important cultural events. One of the most importants is the Christmas concert, played every year in the Zuccari Hall (Palazzo Giustiniani). This tradition, started by former Senate President Nicola Mancino, has now become a welcome, regular event.

Cultural events

Palazzo Giustiniani Palazzo Giustiniani, Zuccari Hall

Bibliography

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/6755761701/

Second slide:

Third slide:

http://www.lindro.it/politica/2013-03-15/74656-presidenza-del-senato-situazione-difficile/attachment/570-g_media219palazzomadama

http://www.06blog.it/post/7073/domani-porte-aperte-a-palazzo-madamaFifth slide:Sixth slide: http://mariapaolavannucchi.blogspot.it/p/pistoia-storia-attualita-eventi.html

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Giovannimarucelli.jpgSeventh slide:http://www.senato.it/3049?documento=29&voce_sommario=15Ninth slide:http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Carlo_Dolci_Salome_Head_of_St_John_the_Baptist_.jpg

Tenth slide:

http://luisboggian.blogspot.it/2010/10/analise-de-obra.htmlEleventh slide: http://www.senato.it/img/repository/notizie/2011/galleria01/html/BonifacioVeronese_01.html

Thirteenth slide:

http://tribunodelpopolo.com/2012/12/22/votata-la-legge-di-stabilita-soldi-al-vaticano-alla-tav-e-alle-scuole-private/senato_ansa1/

Fifteenth slide:

http://osecoweb.org/cms/component/users/?view=remindSixteenth slide: Eighteenth slide: http://www.flickr.com/photos/dealvariis/3525009623/

Montecitorio Palace

Made by: Melchionna Simone, Iadeluca Giorgio, Covotta Antonio, Conte Giulio, Carboni Marco.

The origin of the name is uncertain. Someone believes that the name comes from “mons citatorius”, referring to electoral meetings that were held there in ancient Rome.

The other root of the name may be “mons acceptorius” , saying that waste material from the reclamation of the nearby Campus Martius was dumped there.

History.Origin of the name

Work stopped for 30 years(1655-’85)After the death of Bernini, the new architect Carlo Fontana, added the airy wall belfry.

1696: inauguration of Pope Innocent’s Curia, also called Curia Apostolica.1789: the obelisk of Solarium Augusti was put in front of the palace under Pius VI.1870:Montecitorio was chosen as the seat of the Chamber of Deputies of the new Reign Of Italy.Early 1900s:it was rebuilt, leaving only the façade and the Transatlantico was added under the project of Ernesto Basile.

Basile, who worked at Palazzo Montecitorio, was a representative of Italian Art Nouveau. These were his operations:1) Retained only the front part of the ancient Bernini palace ;2) Squared the central courtyard;3) Demolished the wings and the rear section.

Structure.The Facade

Basile was assisted by: Bistolfi, Sartorio and Trentacoste.

He desplayed a designer's rather than an architect's tastes.In this way there’s an effect of perfect harmony.One of the most famous hall is the Transatlantic.

It marked the beginning of the audiences;its precision in tolling the hours became proverbial in Rome.

CURIOSITY: every Saturday the Roman people went to the square to see the drawing of the lottery numbers.

.The main bell

.Looking for a seat..First building (1871) by Comotto: was inadequate.1900-1918: temporary hall, Comotto hall was closed.Ernesto Basile was called to be the new architecht of the Chamber.

Sala Aldo Moro(once named as Yellow room) is situated on th right side.The name of this historical room took place on13 May 2008 in the presenceof the President of the Chamber of Deputies Mr. Gianfranco Fini on thethirtieth anniversary of the important statist Aldo Moro.

.Aldo Moro Hall

In the Plenary Hall designed by Basile deputies still gather and represent the citizens.

In the hall are held retains intact the decorative elements, furnishings and structures designed by Basile and the artists who assisted him.

.Plenary hall

The verbatim reporters sit at a square table in the centre of the plenary hall, the best position for hearing everything, including interruptions and speeches made without the aid of a microphone.

In the central part there is the President’s bench; below this the space is occupied by two rows of governament’s benches.On the right of the President sits a deputy secretary.Then, on the left there is the Secretary General and officials in charge of the various technical activities that accompany parliamentary sittings.

The pictoral frieze is by Aristide Sartorio and it runs around the hall in the high part. The theme is about the history of the Italian people and their civilization.

Sala Aldo Moro is furnished with High Baroque antiques from the Reggia di Caserta; In the Hall of She-Wolf (that gets its name by a Roman wolf’s bronze sculpture) was

announced the result of the referendum of 1946; In the plenary hall there are objects both of antique and new tecnology.

.Curiosities

• The internal administrative organisation of the Chamber of Deputies is governed by the Rules of Procedure of the Chamber of Deputies and other regulations adopted by the Bureau.

• The President of the Chamber of Deputies ensures the smooth functioning of the Administration and proposes to the Bureau the appointment of the Secretary General.

Policy

President of the Chamber Of Deputies

BOARDS BUREAU COLLEGE OF QUESTORS

ADMINISTRATION

Secretary General Deputy Secretaries GeneralHead of Services

SERVICES GENERAL AFFAIRS OFFICE PERSONAL ASSIGNIMENTS OFFICE OF THE LEGAL COUNSEL AND ARCHIVES

.Organization

• The nowadays president of the Chamber of Deputies is Laura Boldrini.

• The actual President of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic is Enrico Letta.

Palazzo Montecitorio houses more than one thousand paintings and sculptures dating from the 16th to the 20th centuries.We can find prints and engravings of different periods a part of which were gives of the artists or their heirs.There are many works by artists who belonged to XIX century.However in Palazzo Montecitorio there is also an important collection of works belonging to contemporary art.

Moreover, during the 13thParliament, an ad-hoc Committee on the safeguard of artistic and architectural treasures has been established at the Chamber of Deputies.

Artistic Heritage

Made by: Antonaci Claudia, Antonelli Benedetta, Colarusso Giorgio, De Luca Giulia, De Luna Angela

Chigi Palace

The Palazzo Chigi is a palace or noble residence in Rome and the official residence of the Prime Minister of the Italian Republic. The Palazzo, overlooking the Piazza Colonna and the Via del Corso, was begun in 1562 by Giacomo della Porta and completed by Carlo Maderno in 1580 for the Aldobrandini family.

History

In 1659 it was purchased by the Chigi family.

It was then remodelled by Felice della Greca and Giovan Battista Contini. It has five floors, a broad stairway that leads to the living rooms, and a courtyard decorated with a fountain, designed by Giacomo della Porta. The fountain has been copied in many sites in Rome and other Italian cities.In 1878 it became the residence of the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Italy. In 1916 it was bought by the Italian state and became the seat of the Minister for Colonial Affairs. Later it was the official residence of the Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1961 it became the official meeting place of Council of Ministers whose President is the head of the Italian government.Palazzo Chigi is the official residence of Prime Minister of Italy. Since April 2013, the tenant of Chigi is Enrico Letta, Prime Minister of Italy.

The most important rooms of Palazzo Chigi are on the first floor and open to the outside corner between Via del Corso and Piazza Colonna. Today, the Prime Minister’s study, the room that serves as the vestibule, the hall of the Council of Ministers and to some adjoining sitting rooms are located in there. This part of the building coincides roughly with the ancient building, requested by the Aldobrandini family and designed by Matteo da Castello, a famous architect from sixteenth-century Rome.

The rooms of the first floor can be reached via a huge staircase, designed by Felice della Greca and built by the Chigi in the second half of the seventeenth century.The staircase, adorned with the coat of arms of the Chigi family, is decorated with ancient statues, Roman sarcophagi and bronze lanterns. It is located on the left of the former entrance, now closed.

.The rooms

The dining room overlooks the central balcony of the facade in front of Largo Chigi and corresponds to the ancient hall of the Palazzo Aldobrandini. The architecture is full of heraldic symbols of the Chigi and mythological figures.

The study of the Prime Minister only in recent times is again inhabited. It was in '92 Giuliano Amato, on the occasion of his first stint as prime minister because he wanted to move to another wing of the building, less noisy though more cumbersome and less prestigious. Back in the Palazzo Chigi after 8 years, President Amato has found the study renewed by a recent restoration that brought again to light the biblical depiction of the episode of Jonah and the whale, which is right above the door leading to the Gallery Deti, adjacent to the study.

Located just above the Hall of the Council of Ministers, it is in this room that take place regular meetings of the State-Regions Conference and the Conference City-State-Local Government and, when they gather together, the Joint Conference.The name of the room is given by the green carpet that covers the walls and chairs.

In the library was housed the library holdings of Fabio Chigi, Pope Alexander VII, humanist and passionate bibliophile.The collection consisted of about 26,000 printed works on history, literary and ecclesiastical matters, belonging to the 1600s and 1700s, some coming from private libraries but for the most part donated and purchased during journeys through Italy and Germany.

This valuable collection was donated in 1923 by Mussolini to the Pope to soften his position towards the regime. The library has always been an attraction of the Chigi Palace. Currently, though devoid of the ancient collection, it remains the last of the great libraries of the Roman princely houses, still intact and functioning.

Quirinal Palace

Made by: Carboni Massimiliano, Allwicher Lukas

The Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Palazzo del Quirinale or simply Quirinale) is an historic building in Romethe current official residence of the President of the Italian Republic. It is located on the Quirinal Hill, the highest of the seven hills of Rome. It has housed thirty popes, four kings and eleven presidents of the Italian Republic.

The palace, located on the Via del Quirinale and facing onto the Piazza del Quirinale, was built in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. The pope wanted to find a location which would have been far away from the humidity and stench coming from the river Tiber and the unhealthy conditions of the Lateran Palace, therefore the Quirinal hill was one of the most suitable places in Rome. On the site, there was already a small villa owned by the Carafa family and rented to Luigi d'Este. The pope commissioned to the architect Ottaviano Mascherino the building of a palace with porticoed parallel wings and an internal court. The project was not fully executed, due to the death of the pope in 1585 but it's still recognisable in the north part of the court, especially in the double loggia facade, topped by the panoramic Torre dei venti (tower of the winds) or Torrino. To the latter, a bell tower was added according to a project by Carlo Maderno and Francesco Borromini.

History and description.Origins

The palace became the official royal residence of the Kings of Italy, though some monarchs, notably King Victor Emmanuel III (reigned 1900–1946) actually lived in a private residence elsewhere (Villa Savoia), the Quirinale being used simply as an office and for state functions. The monarchy was abolished in 1946 and the Palace became the official residence and workplace for the Presidents of the Italian Republic. Still, some declined the Colle residence and kept their usual Roman residence: for example, Sandro Pertini preferred his old flat near the Trevi Fountain.The façade was designed by Domenico Fontana. Its Great Chapel was designed by Carlo Maderno. It contains frescos by Guido Reni, but the most famous fresco is the Blessing Christ by Melozzo da Forlì, placed over the stairs. Its grounds include a famous set of gardens laid out in the eighteenth century.

Pope Paul V was the one who commissioned the completion of the works on the main building of the palace.It was also used as the location for some papal conclaves in 19th century. It served as a papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until 1870. In September 1870, what was left of the Papal States was overthrown. About five months later, in 1871, Rome became the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy.