The Palace of Justice (), colloquially nicknamed ('the Awful Palace'), is the seat of the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Judicial Public Library of Italy. It is located in the

Prati Prati is the 22nd of Rome, Italy, identified by the initials R. XXII. It belongs to the Municipio I since 2013, while previously, along with Borgo and Trionfale and Della Vittoria, it was part of the Municipio XVII. Its coat of arms de ...

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, facing , , , and .

History

Perugia Perugia ( , ; ; ) is the capital city of Umbria in central Italy, crossed by the River Tiber. The city is located about north of Rome and southeast of Florence. It covers a high hilltop and part of the valleys around the area. It has 162,467 ...

architect Guglielmo Calderini and built between 1888 and 1910, the Palace of Justice is considered one of the grandest of the new buildings which followed the proclamation of Rome as the capital city of the

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy (, ) was a unitary state that existed from 17 March 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Kingdom of Sardinia, Sardinia was proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy, proclaimed King of Italy, until 10 June 1946, when the monarchy wa ...

.Touring Club Italiano, ''Collana Guida d'Italia, Roma'' (8th ed., 1993; ), pp. 672–673 (Italian) The foundation stone was laid on 14 March 1888 in the presence of

Giuseppe Zanardelli Giuseppe Zanardelli (29 October 1826 26 December 1903) was an Italian jurist and political figure. He served as the Prime Minister of Italy from 15 February 1901 to 3 November 1903. An eloquent orator, he was also a Grand Master freemason. Zan ...

, Minister of Justice and Keeper of the Great Seal, who had insisted on a prestigious location in the Prati district, where various other new court buildings were already going up.Alberto Tagliaferri, ''Guide rionali di Roma – Rione XXII Prati'' (Rome: Fratelli Palombi Editori, 1994) pp. 57–60 (Italian) The alluvial soil on which the building sits required a massive concrete platform to support the foundations.Armando Ravaglioli, ''Roma inizio secolo'', in the series ''Roma tascabile'' (Rome: Newton Compton, 1995; ), p. 26 Despite this, instability problems developed after the Palace was completed, and settlement led to a need for a painstaking restoration project which was begun in 1970. The excavations for the foundations unearthed several archaeological finds, including some

sarcophagi A sarcophagus (: sarcophagi or sarcophaguses) is a coffin, most commonly carved in stone, and usually displayed above ground, though it may also be buried. The word ''sarcophagus'' comes from the Greek σάρξ ' meaning "flesh", and φ� ...

. In one of these was found the skeleton of a young woman, Crepereia Tryphaena, together with a superbly crafted articulated ivory doll, now conserved in the museum. On 11 January 1911, twenty-two years after construction began, the building was officially opened in the presence of the King of Italy,

Victor Emmanuel III Victor Emmanuel III (; 11 November 1869 – 28 December 1947) was King of Italy from 29 July 1900 until his abdication on 9 May 1946. A member of the House of Savoy, he also reigned as Emperor of Ethiopia from 1936 to 1941 and King of the Albani ...

. The building's unusually large size, astonishing decorations, and long period of construction created the suspicion of corruption. In April 1912 a parliamentary commission was appointed to inquire into the matter and it presented its findings the following year.''Commissione parlamentare d'inchiesta sulla spesa per la costruzione del palazzo di giustizia in Roma (Legge 4 aprile 1912, N. 317): Relazione e allegati'' (Rome: Tipografia del Senato, 1913) The affair gave rise to the building's popular and

pejorative A pejorative word, phrase, slur, or derogatory term is a word or grammatical form expressing a negative or disrespectful connotation, a low opinion, or a lack of respect toward someone or something. It is also used to express criticism, hosti ...

nickname of .

Il Palazzo di Giustizia di Roma 1, foto Augusto De Luca.jpg Il Palazzo di Giustizia di Roma 2, foto Augusto De Luca.jpg Il Palazzo di Giustizia di Roma 5, foto Augusto De Luca.jpg Il Palazzo di Giustizia di Roma 6, foto Augusto De Luca.jpg Il Palazzo di Giustizia di Roma 7, foto Augusto De Luca.jpg

Description

Inspired by late

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

and

Baroque architecture Baroque architecture is a highly decorative and theatrical style which appeared in Italy in the late 16th century and gradually spread across Europe. It was originally introduced by the Catholic Church, particularly by the Jesuits, as a means to ...

, the building is 170 meters by 155 in size and is completely covered with

Travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...

. Above the façade looking towards the

River Tiber The Tiber ( ; ; ) is the List of rivers of Italy, third-longest 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 it is joined by the R ...

it is surmounted by a great bronze

quadriga A quadriga is a car or chariot drawn by four horses abreast and favoured for chariot racing in classical antiquity and the Roman Empire. The word derives from the Latin , a contraction of , from ': four, and ': yoke. In Latin the word is almos ...

, set there in 1926, the work of the sculptor Ettore Ximenes from Palermo. Ten large statues of notable jurists adorn the ramps before the main façade and the internal courtyard. The upper part of the façade looking onto the Piazza Cavour is ornamented with a bronze

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon f ...

of the

House of Savoy The House of Savoy (, ) is a royal house (formally a dynasty) of Franco-Italian origin that was established in 1003 in the historical region of Savoy, which was originally part of the Kingdom of Burgundy and now lies mostly within southeastern F ...

. Inside the Hall of the Supreme Court, also known as the Great Hall (or on Calderini's plans as the ''Aula Maxima'') are several

fresco Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...

es, begun by Cesare Maccari (1840–1919), who became paralysed in 1909 while the work was unfinished. It was continued until 1918 by Maccari's former student Paride Pascucci (1866–1954).

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Justice, Palace of 1911 establishments in Italy Buildings and structures completed in 1911 Palaces in Rome National supreme court buildings Rome R. XXII Prati

Victor Emmanuel III

History

Description

Further reading

References

External links