Palazzo della Farnesina - Ministero degli Affari Esteri e della Cooperazione Internazionale

A compact travertine façade 169 meters long and a total volume of more than 700 thousand cubic meters: monumentality, rational geometries and neoclassical references are the elements that connote the building at the north end of the Foro Italico complex, between Monte Mario hill and the Tiber, one of the largest in Italy together with the Royal Palace of Caserta.

The history of the Palazzo della Farnesina, so called because of the ancient possessions of the Farnese family in this area, began in the 1930s with the competitions held for the design of the representative headquarters of the Fascist National Party, which was initially to have been built on the then Via dell’Impero, today Via dei Fori Imperiali. In 1937, the choice fell on the project developed by architects Enrico Del Debbio, Arnaldo Foschini and Vittorio Ballio Morpurgo, but the location of the building was moved outside the historic center, to the area of the complex now known as the Foro Italico. In 1940, with construction already underway, the Fascist regime gave up its prestigious seat and the building was destined to house the offices of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, until 1922 housed in the Palazzo della Consulta and later in Palazzo Chigi.

Abandoned at the outbreak of the Second World War, work resumed after the war with some variations to the original design but still under the guidance of Del Debbio, Foschini and Morpurgo. With a shrewd design direction, an important artistic and decorative apparatus was commissioned for the building’s inner spaces – a total of 1,300 rooms on nine floors. Del Debbio designed the furnishings of the ministerial headquarters, including the Venini glass chandeliers based on a module designed by Carlo Scarpa, while the decoration of the ceremonial rooms on the first floor was entrusted to Alberto Bevilacqua (Sala dei Mosaici), Pietro Cascella (Sala delle Conferenze Internazionali), Francesco Coccia (Anticamera degli Ambasciatori), Giorgio Quaroni (Studio del Ministro) and Amerigo Tot (Sala della Vittoria).

The Foreign Ministry officially took up residence in the Palazzo della Farnesina in 1959. In some ways, however, the last act in the planning of the palace dates back to the years immediately following, with the public competitions held in 1965 and 1968 for the realization and purchase of works of art that today are considered an indispensable component of the structure. These include, for example, mosaics by Luigi Montanarini and Toti Scialoja, tapestries by Gastone Novelli, Sergio Selva and Antonio Scordia, the wall blocks of the access ramp sculpted by Pietro Cascella, the sculptural groups by Osvaldo Calò and Pietro Consagra and the famous “Sfera Grande” by Arnaldo Pomodoro in the square in front of the entrance.

This union between the Farnesina (as the ministry is often called by metonymy) and artistic research is reaffirmed by the Collezione Farnesina, a collection of contemporary art works established in 2000. The collection includes works of some of the most significant artists in the history of 20th and 21st century Italian art, such as Carrà, Sironi, Soffici, Guttuso, Burri, Vedova, Kounellis, Merz, Pistoletto, Vespignani and Paladino. The collection and the palazzo normally open their doors to the public on the last Friday of every month as well as for Open House Roma and Giornata del Contemporaneo. Visits can be booked on the dedicated website.