Palazzo Esercito

Located in the Rione Castro Pretorio, between the Quirinale Palace and Piazza della Repubblica, the imposing Palazzo Esercito stands on Via XX Settembre, in one of Rome's most emblematic institutional areas.

Its construction began in 1876, based on a design by Colonel Luigi Garavaglia, with subsequent interventions by Colonel Luigi Durand de la Penne and Captain Bernardini, at a time when Rome – having become the capital of Italy just five years earlier – was undergoing a period of profound transformation to house the new institutions of the Kingdom.

Built as the seat of the then Ministry of War, Palazzo Esercito was completed in 1889 on the site previously occupied by the religious complexes of Santa Teresa and the Santissima Incarnazione del Verbo Divino, which were demolished to make way for the new, monumental structure.

Characterised by a façade with austere, solemn lines, the 19th-century Neo-Renaissance building has a vast rectangular plan, measuring approximately 154 metres along its longest side and 120 metres along its shortest, with five courtyards of varying sizes.

Today the seat of the General Staff of the Army and the Defence General Staff, the building houses a highly articulated interior, including offices, functional spaces and prestigious rooms, amongst which, on the piano nobile, are the Sala Balilla, the Sala Quadri and the Sala della Vittoria Alata, which reflect the character of the original design.

Particularly remarkable is the Biblioteca Militare Centrale (Central Military Library), established in 1891 following the merger of various military collections. Constantly expanding, it preserves an extraordinary collection – ranging from history to military affairs, from politics to sociology and the sciences – of over 120,000 volumes, including a Fondo Antico (a collection of 1,200 rare books) and 1,000 periodicals.

Palazzo Esercito ph. Turismo Roma