User:Giano/Quirinal Palace
The Quirinal Palace (known in Italian as the Palazzo del Quirinale or simply the Quirinale) is situated on the Quirinal Hill, the tallest of the seven hills of Rome. The palace, located on the Via del Quirinale and facing onto the Piazza del Quirinale, was begun in 1583 by Pope Gregory XIII as a papal summer residence. Mostly constructed during the late 16th century and early 17th centure, the palace was the creation of four highly eminent architects: Ottavio Mascherino, Flaminio Ponzio, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini. In 1870, it was seized by King Vittorio Emmanuele II and became the home of the Italian kings. While the new Royal owners made small changes replacing the papal arms, in the stonework, with their own; the palace remains a typical example of the unification of Baroque and classical architecture dominant in Rome. Ceded to the state in 1946, today, it is the official residence of the President of the Italian Republic.
History[edit]
The building of the palazzo was commissioned in May 1583 by Pope Gregorio XIII on an estate of Cardinal d'Este, which the Cardinal leased from the Neapolitan Caraffa family. [1] Though less then two kilometres from Il Vaticano, the Pope had chocen to spend the previous ten summers on the Quirinal Hill rather than in the more remote hills of Lazio, the more common summer retreat of the Roman aristocracy, both temporal and spiritual. [2]
The Pope initially employed Ottavio Mascherino to build a small palace (palazzetto) on the site of the villa he had rented, a decade earlier, from Cardinal d'Este. Mascherino's design was built arownd a cour d'honneur with two projecting wings linked by a corps de logis fronted with a double loggia with a single helicoidal staircase (the campanile above this staircase was not built until 1723).[3]
Mascherino also made plans for the redesign of the buildings near the palace on the Piazza del Quirinale and the Strada Pia (today, known as the Via del Quirinale), but these plans were not executed until the following Papal reign when Domenico Fontana was remodelling buildings on the corner of the piazza in 1586.
In 1587, Fontana began major works to the Quirinal Palace itself for Gregorio's successor, Sixtus V who not only planned to make the palace worthy of one of the wirld's most powerful rulers, but purchased the remainder of the estate, the sale was finalised in 1587. [4] Fontana planned two long galleries which were to join the palace to the piazza's corner building he had remodelled the previous year. Thus extending Mascherino's cour d'honneur and creating a series of vast state rooms for the Papal court. Completion of the palace was thwarted by the death of Sixtus V, at the palace, in 1590; work all but halted with only one of the two galleries, that facing the Piazza, completed.
The accession of Pope Paul V in 1605 saw work resume of the palace on a grand scale; the architect Flaminio Ponzio was charged with completeing the second gallery, Fontana's original design was altered to include a raised central portion housing a monumantal grand staircase leading to the state apartments, which included the Sala del Concistoro and the Sala Regia. Over the stairs is the palace's most notable fresco, the Blessing of Christ by Melozzo da Forlì.
As a result of Ponzio's death in 1613, the architect Carlo Maderno was brought into the project. He designed the Pauline Chapel which was decorated with frescoes by Martini Ferabosco.[5] This was to be the palace's second chapel, an early, but far smaller, one, the Chapel of the Annunciation, had been built by Ponzio, this chapel has frescos by Guido Reni. [6] Maderno created the great facade facng the Piazza del Quirinale complete with a Baroque portal later to be given a balcony, for bestowing papal blessings, by [[Gian Lorenzo Bernini.
The building was to be continually altered and extended, until it acquired its present form during the 18th century during the pontificate of Pope Clemente XII.
Quirinal as a residence[edit]
Papal[edit]
The palazzo was used as the location for papal conclaves in 1823, 1829, 1831, and 1846. It served as a papal residence and housed the central offices responsible for the civil government of the Papal States until 1870.
Things to mention in this section
- Malaria
- eclipsing Apostlic palace
Royal Palace[edit]
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. The palace was occupied during the invasion of Rome and became the official royal residence of the Kings of Italy, though in reality some monarchs, notably King Victor Emmanuel III (reigned 1900-1946) actually lived in a private residence elsewhere, the Quirinale being used simply as an office and for state functions.
Presidential Palace[edit]
The monarchy was abolished in 1946 and the Palace became the official residence and workplace for the Presidents of the Italian Republic. Some, still, declined the Colle residence and kept their usual Roman residence: for example, Sandro Pertini preferred his old flat near the Trevi fountain.
Gardens[edit]
The grounds include a series of gardens laid out by Pope Paul V which include fountains and water novelties, such as an an organ played by water. These have remained largely unchanged since their conception.
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- Cook, Olive (1969). Great Palaces (The Quirinal. Pages 102-111). London: Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. ISBN 0600 01682 X.
- Rendina, Claudio (1999). Enciclopedia di Roma. Rome: Newton & Compton.
Memo to me[edit]
External links[edit]
- Official site of the Presidency of Italy (Virtual tour of Quirinal Palace)
- Satellite image of the palace and its garden Note: One block north east of the Gardens is the Palazzo Barberini. Midway along the long southeast wing flanking the garden, across the street, is the small dome of Bernini's Sant'Andrea al Quirinale. At the next corner north is the inconspicuous church by Borromini, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane. Diagonal and to the west of the facade, amid a warren of small streets is the turquoise tub-like polygon of the Trevi Fountain.
Life Magazine, The silver store: pre 1946.
Things to be used and inorporated[edit]
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