Piazza del Quirinale

Here is Palazzo del Quirinale, seat of the Italian Head of State. The square extends upon the Quirinal Hill, the tallest of the seven hills of Rome, so called because once this was the site of the temple of Quirinus or the city of the Curi, where, according to the legend, the Sabines of Tatius came to establish themselves. In the middle of the square, upon tall bases, are the colossal statues of the Dioscuri, Castor and Pollux, standing up by their horses. The marble groups are Roman reworking of imperial age of a Greek original of the V century BC. On the right hand side of the square is the façade of the gorgeous Palazzo della Consulta, realized by Ferdinando Fuga (1732) on commission of Pope Clement XII, for the court of the Sacred Court. Today is the seat of the Italian Constitutional Court.