Palazzo Senatorio
Palazzo Senatorio In the place where the building stands, it existed, from 196 BC a temple dedicated to Veiove, rebuilt in the 1st century AD according to the form in which it is preserved. It had a rectangular plan with a small portico projecting on one of the entrance sides, a very rare plant in Roman temples. The podium in travertine, part of the small portico and the cell remain from the ancient temple. Next to it, in 78 BC the Tabularium was built as a Roman public archive, since the tabulae, ie the laws and public documents, were kept there. Of the Tabularium there remains only an arcaded gallery that was perhaps a public passageway. In the Middle Ages the Roman remains were incorporated into a fortress; in 1143, at the birth of the free Municipality of Rome, it became its headquarters and the first senators resided there. The first form of the Palazzo Senatorio is handed down to us only from scarce sources that represent it as a building with two towers, one of which housed the Patarina, the bell taken from Viterbo as a war prey. At the end of the fourteenth century the building assumed its monumental appearance with the façade with three arches. But already during the same century the Palace began to close within its walls and many arches were walled up. After various additions and alterations it was reached, at the behest of Pope Paul III, the project to renovate the complex of Capitoline buildings, designed in 1537 by Michelangelo. In this project, among other things, appears the double ramp staircase and the balustrade that ends the palace, which was to be adorned with statues. The project, followed by Michelangelo until his death, was substantially modified by his followers. The current façade dates back to the end of the sixteenth century and is the work of Giacomo della Porta and Girolamo Rainaldi. The two colossal statues of rivers, the Nile and the Tigris transformed into the Tiber, come from the Baths of Costantino del Quirinale; in the center is the small statue of Minerva – Dea Roma. The tower was built between 15 78 and 1582 by Martino Longhi the Elder. The Constituent Assembly of the Roman Republic had its headquarters here in 1849 before being dissolved by French troops. Since 1870, the Council Chamber, which holds the flags of the Municipality and the twenty-two Rioni and the coats of arms of popes and senators on the walls, hosts the Rome City Council.
Roman Period
The Palazzo Senatorio rises on the ruins of two buildings of the Roman age the Tabularium and the temple of Veiove adjacent to it. The Tabularium, seat of the public archive, built by the consul Q. Lutazio Catulo in 78 B.C., occupies the southern side of the Capitoline Hill facing the Roman Forum with the large arches of the porticoed gallery and the imposing wall in square work that supports it. On Via di San Pietro in Carcere you can see the inscription relating to the testing of the monument, still inserted in ancient structures pertinent to a corridor on which they propose a series of turned environments used according to some scholars in relation to the Erario Located at the temple of Saturn in the Forum and the mint of the Republican and first Imperial age located on the Arce.
The restoration works will allow the re-opening to the public of the monument and the possibility to see the remains of the podium of the Temple of Veiove, admirably preserved along with the colossal statue of the god found during the work of the years ‘ 40.
The solidity of the ancient structures has allowed an extraordinary continuity of use of the monumental complex, which during the Middle Ages assumes the fortified aspect that in part still characterizes it.
Medieval period
Since the Middle Ages the building built on the remains of the Tabularium was closely linked to the history of the City of Rome. In this fortress, exponents of the Roman baronial aristocracy in 1143-4 gave life with Renovatio Senatus to an assembly composed of about fifty members who, in remembrance of the Senate of Ancient Rome, proposed to administer the city exercising the Legislative power, judicial and executive power.
The alternate vicissitudes related to the medieval history of Rome led to soon abandon the collegiate magistracy and to gather in the only figure of the senator the tasks and the powers of the Assembly.
The senator resided in the Capitol in the palace that he took his name, here were creating other magistratures that he employed and assisting him in carrying out his duties, including a paramount role retained in those centuries the judicial area: at The senator’s court was in fact arraigned by the Roman citizens.
Since then for the entire course of the THIRTEENTH century the architectural history of the palace developed in close relationship with the history of the senator’s judiciary. The building was partially abandoning its appearance of fortress to acquire that of Palazzo public, characterized by a façade that opened with three orders of arches on the Piazza Capitolina and a cordonata that entered directly into the large classroom where It was the senator’s court.
Significant traces of the medieval period are visible on the façade of St. Peter in prison. The angular towers built for reinforcement of the building, were built between the end of the FOURTEENTH century-towers of Bonifacio IX on the right side of the main prospectus-and the mid-FIFTEENTH century-Torre di Martino V on the left side of the same prospectus and towers of Nicolò V towards the The Roman Forum-.
The definitive return of the Popes from exile Avignon (1420) and the consequent, albeit slow and gradual, constitute a new structure of government of the Papal State, which came to understand also aspects of the administration of the city of Rome, led in Course of the XV and XVI centuries to the exautoramento of the city Magistratures, the senator and the Conservatives, who had headquarters in the Capitol. However, these continued to remain formally alive until the reform of the commune desired by Pope Pius IX in 1847 which marks the start of a process of transformation of the city’s administrative structure in a representative sense and which ended in 1870 When Rome became the capital of Italy, it had a new and more modern municipal administration.
It owes the great Renaissance pontiffs the architectural transformation of the Capitol, which, thanks to Michelangelo’s project, became one of the most important artistic highlights of Rome.
The work of accommodation and renovation of the complex began in 1538 with the transfer of the bronze equestrian statue of Emperor Marcus Aurelius on the Capitoline Square and continued throughout the century and part of the next until the completion Of the project with the construction of the new building.
The monumental staircase of access to the senatorial hall was first realized, at whose sides Michelangelo arranged the two ancient statues of the Tiber and Nile rivers; Subsequently, a new façade was placed on the Palazzo Senatorio with Renaissance lines, partly modified from the Michelangiolesco project. It covered, without destroying it, the medieval exterior façade. The life of the palace continued to unfold around the large or senatorial classroom, currently called the Aula of Julius Caesar, which was enlarged by bringing together two partially overlapping rooms dating back to the medieval period.
Ingresso Sisto IV
In addition to the Michelangelo staircase that gives direct access to the chamber, we enter the palace through the lateral entrance realized by the pontiff Sixtus IV in 1477 and which introduced in the Salara, the deposit of the salt that from the fourteenth century was Monopoly of the commune. This environment, consisting of two aisled porch that opened on the Piazza Capitolina with a series of arches., was built in the XII century and was the original seat of the city assembly. As part of the restoration work carried out in the Second decade of ‘ 900, a new staircase of internal access to the Council Chamber and the adjoining rooms has been created. The restoration interventions have also affected these halls, which in this initiative are for the time open to the public.
The mayor’s Lounge or anteroom
The small representation room that enters the office of the mayor was decorated with a band of frescoes in 1927 by the painter Cistern. In the squares are represented places of the city linked to the ancient history that alternate with symbols of the romanità.
To the painted walls pertaining to the Pinacoteca Capitolina: L’annnucio to the shepherds of Francesco Bassano (1549-1592); Saint John the Baptist, by Daniele da Volterra (1509-1566)
On a rich console of the XVIII century is placed the precious night clock in ebony, bronze, hard stones and marbles. The beautiful quadrant, painted on copper by F. Trevisani (1656-1746), depicts the flight into Egypt. The clock, the work of Roman craftsmen, dates back to the last decade of ‘ 600. A light, placed inside, also made visible at night the hours engraved on the dial.
Mayor’s Hall (Sala del Sindaco)
The hall of the mayor is located in one of the five medieval towers that surrounded the palace, that of Niccolò V of 1473. On the walls the Madonna and child of L. Carracci, the San Sebastiano of a. Tiarini and two landscapes of the XVIII century, on a basement a female bust of the SIXTEENTH century. The Salon Luigi XVI is in green brocade. Seat of important meetings, the mayor received among others Bill Clinton (2/6/94), Yasser Arafat (5/9/96), Mother Teresa of Calcutta (21/5/96), Fidel Castro (20/11/96), Nelson Mandela (17/6/98), Don Juan Carlos de Bourbon (29/9/98).
Red Room (Sala Rossa)
The hall, seat of meetings, takes its name from the rich upholstery, to the painted walls of the Capitoline Pinacoteca:
St. Francis receives the stigmata, work of the workshop of Rubens, the progenitors, of the Venetian school,
The Forge of Vulcan, the workshop of the Bassano, mystic Marriage of St. Catherine, Copy from Correggio, the tapestry of the series of histories of Chlorinda and Tancredi of Parisian manufacture of the ESA. XVII., the bust of Cavour.
Important meetings take place around the large table at the centre of the Hall: Conferences of the group leaders of the Council groups, significant press conferences and meetings of the mayor with various delegations.
Hall of Flags (Sala delle Bandiere)
The ancient hall was derived from an environment of the tower built by the pontiff Martino V (1430). The connection of the Hall and its furnishings with the Risorgimento history of Rome is entirely peculiar. and municipal institutions that were reformed by Pope Pius IX in 1847 and which remained in force until the annexation of the city to the Kingdom of Italy (1870). In the windows are preserved the 14 flags of the Rioni of Rome and the banner with the insignia of Pope Pius IX. The artifacts, embroidered in silver and silk threads, bear the name of the ward and the image of the twins nursed by the Wolf. They were executed in 1847 and delivered to the Civic guard of the new institution with a solemn ceremony held at the Capitol: in the other showcases flags of the city’s most recent executions, in addition to the flag of the battleship ‘ ‘ Rome ‘ ‘.
The Capitoline junta is still meeting around the table performed by Roman workers in 1842. It was used for the meetings of the first city Council of 1847, and again for those of the triumvirate of the Roman Republic that was proclaimed at the Capitol in 1848 by Mazzini, Armellini and Saffi.
Council Chamber, known as Julius Caesar
Over the centuries, the senatorial Chamber has continued to represent the fulcrum of the palace and its role as an environment entrusted to welcome the assemblies of the representatives of the Government of Rome remains unchanged. Here the city Council meets with the junta in the deliberating, dominate the classroom the benches of the mayor and the President of the Council, the junta and the benches of councillors.
The old senatorial Hall has naturally known many interventions. Surely the most significant was the accommodation of the interiors connected to the realization of the Michelangelo project of the Piazza del Campidoglio and the new façade of the building. Recent surveys have brought to light on the exterior wall the ancient loggia consisting of columns of bare with medieval ionic capitals that hold round arches in bricks, the series is closed by a brick arch, taller and larger than the previous ones, The probable access of the Cordonata; These remains were dated to the second half of 1200. There were also elements of the loggia that placed in the upper Room: A granite column, thinner than the previous ones and an octagon pillar. On the opposite side a Roman architrave was used as a doorpost of an internal entrance.
The house is currently named after the statue of Julius Caesar in the years ‘ 50 in a position of great importance in front of the Council assembly. On the opposite side the statue of a naval leader. Both statues received in the Capitoline collections in the middle of 1500, date back to the Trajan era.
Finally there are the walls of the ancient coats of arms of the city in addition to the coats of arms of senators dating back to the medieval period, a detached fresco of the Madonna and child of the circle of the painter Antoniazzo Romano (1461-1508).
The bell tower (La torre Campanaria)
In the ancient depications of the city, the Palazzo Senatorio stands out for the high tower, symbol of the communal power, where the Patarina was placed, the ancient bell taken away from the Viterbesi and called to collect the people.
Destroyed in the second half of ‘ 500 the medieval tower by lightning, was erected between 1578 and 1582 a new bell tower on the project of Martino Longhi the Elder. The tower is alta35 m. About built in bricks with architectural elements in travertine.
On its summit is placed the ancient statue of the goddess Minerva represented as Rome. Inside the bell-cells are housed two bells fused in 1804, 1805, and placed where in ancient times was the famous “Patarina ”
On the side of the tower facing the Capitoline Square was placed in 1806 the clock previously placed on the façade of Santa Maria in Ara Coeli
From the top of the tower it is possible to look at the wide and extended panorama of the city.
Contact Information
Address: Piazza del Campidoglio 1
Phone: 0039 – 06 69941531/2/3/4 – 06 67103898 / 9
Fax: 0039-06- 67103590
Website: http://www.comune.roma.it/gabinetto/cenni_storici.htm
