History of the “Palazzo delle Finanze”
The first G7/G8 meeting of the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors under the Italian Presidency will be held in Rome, on 13th and 14th February 2009. On Saturday, 14th February, the meeting will take place at the Ministry of the Economy and Finance Building, also known as “Palazzo delle Finanze”.
Completed in 1878, the Palazzo is a remarkable example, from an artistic perspective, of the cultural and historical framework of the Risorgimento, the period which led to the unification of Italy in the second half of the nineteenth century.
The choice of Rome as the de facto capital of the new nation safter Turin and Florence was conceived and promoted by Quintino Sella, who became the Minister of Finance in 1862. The distinguished statesman and engineer from Piedmont believed that Rome, becaue of its extraordinary past, could aptly represent the new concept of government and become the symbol of all the innovative thinking that was driving the Risorgimento.
The building, therefore, which was the first ministry building in Rome, expressed the new image of Rome, from the papal city to the capital of the new Kingdom of Italy.
The building originally housed all the main financial institutions: the State Audit Court, the Treasury, the General Secretariat, the Toll and the Tax Offices, the State Lands Office, and the Public Debt Office. Today, the building is home to the Ministry of the Economy and Finance only.
With a view to meeting the city's new needs, and the plan to concentrate the administrative offices between Porta Pia and the Quirinal, Quintino Sella was convinced that Rome did not so much need to refurbish its old buildings, but rather to create new areas in order to achieve greater functionality and to favour the development of the city itself.
The building was constructed during the four-year period from 1872 to 1876, but not without objective difficulties arising during construction and delays due to differences between the new government and the municipal administration regarding the urban restructuring.
According to the government's plan, the first three ministries (Ministry of Finance, Ministry of War and Ministry of Agriculture) were to be located on the east side of the city, along the Via XX Settembre axis.
The Ministry of Finance was to have prominent position over the administrative stronghold, so as to dominate it. The design specifications were characterised by the magnificence of the dimensions, so much so as to represent a sort of a "Palazzo delle Finanze", with references also made to Bernini's plans for the Louvre.
The building was therefore to have a large square in front of its main entrance and three inner courtyards, with a much smaller Court of Honour in the centre. The area surrounding the building was to be close to the railway line, and to offer quarters to be used for housing the families of the staff.
Initially, the project, which underwent various changes over time, was developed by the Roman architect, Raffaele Canevari, and the Milanese engineer, Luigi Tatti. They came up with different blueprints for the new ministry, the final draft of which was approved in new zoning regulations in 1873. At that point, however, Tatti was replaced by the then head of the Municipal Technical Office, Alessandro Viviani.
The area where the building was to be constructed had been expropriated from the Carthusian monks of Santa Maria degli Angeli in 1871. It was part of the new area of the city known as "Macao" that took shape in 1862 on the lands of the Villa Massimo, and included Rome's main train station, Termini.
Natural grottoes, pozzolana caves and tuff were found in the area's subsoil. The works also led to the discovery of the underground passage of the Felice aqueduct and a stream that had been recorded since the times of ancient Rome, that ran from the Quirinal and up to the aforementioned area, via the Forum. Important archaeological finds were also made.
The discoveries included, on the west side of the building, the thermal pools of one of the three Giulia, Tepula and Marcia springs (II cent. A.D.), the remains of Diocletian's Imperial Baths on the southwest side, and ruins belonging to the Servian town wall on the east side.
Started in 298 A.D. by Maximiam, joint emperor with Diocletian, the Baths were designed according to a quadrangular plan, the central part of which was located at the site of the current Basilica di Santa Maria degli Angeli. The Baths, which could accommodate more than 3,000 people, included not only the classic calidarium, tepidarium and frigidarium, but also exercise rooms, a pool, locker rooms, space for massages and relaxation, and rooms for reading and listening to music. This masterpiece of antique architecture started declining since V cent. A.D.
The remains of the Servian town wall dating back to the IV cent. B.C. were discovered under the eastern side of the building (Via Goito). Created after the invasion of the Gauls in order to provide for greater defence against future attacks, the wall's 11-kilometre perimeter surrounded most of the city, between the Quirinal, Capitoline, Esquiline, Caelian and Aventine hills.
The Porta Collinae, one of the most important of the city's 16 gates, was found at the northwest part of the walls (at the location of the Piazza delle Finanze). The area around the Porta Collinae yielded traces of different Oriental, Mithraic, and Christian cults, all substantiated by the remains of a number of temples and votive chapels that contributed invaluable treasures to the history of art. Among these, a special mention goes to the discovery of a colossal marble head of Titus, three temples dedicated to the Goddess of Fortune, a beautiful marble head of a small boy, a follower of the Goddess Isis, with the characteristic lock of hair behind the right ear dating back to the III cent. A.D., a bust of an emperor with a toga from the Antoninus age (perhaps representing Caracalla as a young man), and a gold ring whose mounting contains an engraving of Romulus, Remus and the she-wolf.
Also worth noting are the very beautiful black and white mosaics in smooth marble and flint which adorned the floor of the vestibule of the Baths, depicting gods and goddesses of the seas, fish, triton and other aquatic themes. The mosaics are now restored and displayed on the first floor next to the Minister's offices.
A very beautiful Greek marble statue of Bacchus as an adolescent which came from the Nemi excavations is placed at top of the large staircase located at the entrance from Via Cernaia, and is on loan from Rome's Archaeological Monuments Office, as are other pieces of immense interest, including, for example, the Greek marble bust of Clodius Albinus as an adult.
As to the burial grounds, many cinerary urns and furnishings were uncovered, including an urn bearing the name of M. Aemilius Stephanus, that contained an engraving that his wife had dedicated to him.
These treasures are now held in the Ottagona Room of the Rome National Museum, and at the Palazzo Massimo and Palazzo Altemps.
Raffaele Canevari left behind a long and meticulous account of all of this, illustrating in detail the various problems that surfaced as the excavation work proceeded. Such work, which began on 1 April 1872, was terminated with the laying of the foundation just two years later, in 1874.
Once the actual construction activity was completed in 1876, work began on the decoration, the stucco on the interior of the building, and the painting of the rooms, which included the following:
- the Parlamentino, the chamber for public hearings for the State Audit Court;
- the Sala della Maggioranza (Majority Room);
- the Sala Azzurra (Blue Room);
- the Minister's Offices;
- the Sala degli Esperti (Experts Room);
- the Offices of the Director General of the Treasury;
- the beautiful historical Library.
The artists in charge of such decoration were the most well known of the era. Several of them had been Canevari's associates, while others were artists/patriots who had actively participated in fighting for the Italian Risorgimento.
Francesco Pieroni and Luigi Martinori were the designers of the external façade, the window frames, the large staircase of honour, the stucco work and the fountains. Eugenio Agneni, Virginio Monti, Domenico Bruschi and Cecrope Barilli were in charge of the paintings, which were executed in accordance with the Neo-Renaissance style of the era and the architectural environment. Davide Natali was instead charged with the decoration of the library.
The Renaissance-inspired allegorical painting is distinguished by the formal recovery of the styles of the past, integrated into the positivist thought of confidence in the rational study of artistic manifestation.
Like the sculpture of the period, the painting adopted an historical/allegorical style for celebrating prominent people and events of the Risorgimento.
It is known that the first floor of the building, the one with the most detailed decoration, was designed to provide working space for honorary officers. Many of the rooms also had artistically decorated mantelpieces.
The second floor housed the offices for the clerks, while the third floor was used for files and records. The fourth floor was added in later years. It is also worth noting the four towers which give the building the appearance of a small fort, looming above an incomparable view of the entire city of Rome.
As to the statues decorating the facades and interior of the building, it is noted that the planners of the era also intended such works to be inspired by the magnificence of the past, especially drawing on Michelangelo’s style.
Simplified allegories are often used. On the external facades, crests were to be reproduced with figures symbolising the virtues and functions of the new laoc-bourgeois state, under the guidance of the monarchy.
For example, Ercole Rosa's pediment on Via Cernaia is flanked by the allegories of Agriculture and Industry, while Pietro Costa's pediment on Via XX Settembre executed in 1881 features the allegories of Justice and Temperance.
Another historical fact of note is that the main gate was entirely remade after the original iron was used to make cannons for World War II.
Finally, the building hides an architectural secret: every point inside the building is linked with the others through a repetitive geometric system that allows to reach any internal destination without ever going outside.
Sources:
Il Palazzo delle Finanze di Roma capitale, Libreria dello Stato, Rome, 1979
Il Palazzo delle Finanze e del Tesoro, Istituto Poligrafico and Zecca dello Stato, Editalia, Edizioni d'Italia, 1989
Texts by:
Franco Borsi - Gianfranco Spagnesi - Gianna Piantoni - Marisa dé Spagnolis Conticello
Prepared by Roberta Banfi
(Translation by Ann Elizabeth Pollak)
