Palazzo Braschi () is a large Neoclassical palace in Rome, Italy and is located between the

Piazza Navona Piazza Navona () is a public open space in Rome, Italy. It is built on the site of the Stadium of Domitian, built in the 1st century AD, and follows the form of the open space of the stadium. The ancient Romans went there to watch the '' agones' ...

, the

Campo de' Fiori Campo de' Fiori (, literally "field of flowers") is a rectangular square south of Piazza Navona in Rome, Italy, at the border between rione Parione and rione Regola. It is diagonally southeast of the Palazzo della Cancelleria and one block nort ...

, the Corso Vittorio Emanuele II and the Piazza di

Pasquino Pasquino or Pasquin (Latin: ''Pasquillus'') is the name used by Romans since the early modern period to describe a battered Hellenistic-style statue perhaps dating to the third century BC, which was unearthed in the Parione district of Rome ...

. It presently houses the

Museo di Roma The Museo di Roma is a museum in Rome, Italy, part of the network of Roman civic museums. The museum was founded in the Fascist era with the aim of documenting the local history and traditions of the "old Rome" that was rapidly disappearing, bu ...

, the "Museum of Rome", covering the history of the city in the period from the Middle Ages through the nineteenth century.

History

The palace was commissioned by the papal nephew, Duke

Luigi Braschi Onesti Luigi Braschi Onesti (1745– 9 February 1816), duca di Nemi, was a nephew of Pope Pius VI, who granted him his dukedom. Life and family Luigi's mother Giulia Braschi was Pius's sister, and his father was count Girolamo Onesti. His younger brot ...

, from the architect

Cosimo Morelli Cosimo Morelli (1732 – February 26, 1812) was an Italian architect, active throughout the Papal States in a Neoclassic style. Biography He was born at Imola. His father, also an architect, studied under Giovanni Domenico Trifogli, who was con ...

. The site had been purchased in 1790 by Braschi, supported by funds from Pope Pius VI; Braschi demolished the 16th-century palace that Giuliano da Sangallo the Younger had built for Francesco Orsini in order to erect his own from the ground up.Palazzo Braschi
Construction was suspended in February 1798 during the Napoleonic occupation of the city, when the French temporarily took possession of it until 1802 and confiscated the recently acquired collection of antiquities it contained (though Braschi was reimbursed for them). In 1809, when Rome was declared an Imperial city by Napoleon, Duke Luigi moved into the palace and was declared mayor. On his death in 1816 the palace remained unfinished and the family funds depleted. In 1871 the Braschi Onesti heirs sold the building to the Italian State, who made it the seat of the

Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministry ...

(now moved into

Palazzo del Viminale The Palazzo del Viminale is a historic palace in Rome (Italy), seat of the Prime Minister and of the Ministry of Interior since 1925; in 1961 the Prime Minister was transferred to Palazzo Chigi. History The palace was commissioned by Giovanni Gi ...

). During the Italian fascist period, it was used as the political headquarters of Benito Mussolini, and was adorned with a giant sculpture of the dictator's face. After the war, it housed 300 refugee families and many of the interior frescoes were seriously damaged by the fires they lit to keep warm. In 1949 the palace passed to the civic authorities and, following extensive conservation in 1952, the present installation of the museum was effected. The main entrance is on Via San Pantaleo (between Piazza Navona and Corso Vittorio Emanuele). In the piazza, is the Monument to Marco Minghetti; Minghetti had led the Ministry of the Interior and served as prime minister, with offices in this palace. The oval hall inside the main entrance overlooks Via San Pantaleo, and leads to the monumental staircase with its eighteen red granite columns which came from the gallery built by the Emperor Caligula on the banks of the River

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest List of rivers of Italy, river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where ...

. Decorating the staircase there are ancient sculptures and fine stuccoes by

Luigi Acquisti Luigi Acquisti (1745–1823) was an Italian sculptor mainly known for his works in the neoclassical style. He was born in Forlì the 29 March 1747 and died in Bologna in 1823. His works are distributed throughout Italy. Among them are reliefs ...

inspired by the myth of Achilles. On the piazza at the Southwest corner of the palace is the statue of

The Neoclassical architect

Giuseppe Valadier Giuseppe Valadier (April 14, 1762 – February 1, 1839) was an Italian architect and designer, urban planner and archaeologist and a chief exponent of Neoclassicism in Italy. Biography The son of a goldsmith, Luigi (1726–1785), Valadier was born ...

designed the chapel on the '' piano nobile'' or first floor. He also designed the white marble facade on the adjacent church of San Pantaleo for which is named the piazza in front of the Palazzo Braschi.

References

External links

Romeart lover entryOfficial site of Museum
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1809 Braschi Art museums and galleries in Rome Neoclassical palaces Neoclassical architecture in Italy Braschi