The Farnesina Palace and its Collections

Rome has been the seat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1871 when the capital of the Kingdom of Italy moved there from Florence. The Ministry first occupied the Palazzo della Consulta (from 1871 to 1922) and then Palazzo Chigi (from 1923 to 1959). It has been in the current edifice since 1959.

The Farnesina building was designed by architects Del Debbio, Foschini and Morpurgo in 1935, when the Orti della Farnesina area between Monte Mario and the Tiber river was being developed.

While the Farnesina was actually built later, it was affected by Italy's cultural climate of the 1930s, a turning point in Italian architecture. Fascist iconography attempted to attach some of the grandeur of ancient Rome to Mussolini's regime and Italian architecture was inevitably inspired by imperial architecture. The new formal values led to commanding structures where massiveness, rhythm and symmetry all inspired the design of Palazzo della Farnesina.

The building was originally designed for other purposes. The decision to use it to house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs came in the Fifties. With its 1,320 rooms, the Farnesina building was large enough to hold all the Foreign Ministry desks and departments, which were previously spread out in thirteen different buildings, along with the headquarters in Palazzo Chigi.

The main façade of the 9-storey building is 169 metres wide and 51 metres high. With its 720,000 cubic metres, its shares the record for being Italy's largest construction in terms of volume with the Royal Palace of Caserta.

The Farnesina is located in Rome's Foro Italico area, part of the recent town plan. It is well connected to the rest of the city, and other important public facilities are located nearby. Together with its offices, the building contains a number of basic services for its personnel (bank, post office, travel agency, newsstand and coffee shop) as well as a day nursery, a canteen and an infirmary.

On 10 September 2003, Foreign Minister Franco Frattini inaugurated the building's new outside lighting system. The lighting was designed to draw attention and give new meaning to the historic building and the surrounding area. It was produced thanks to the efforts of a number of businesses working in the fields of electricity, engineering and lighting, coordinated by Michele Bollettieri, the head of So.S.P.I. S.p.A., and is a technologically advanced, elegant lighting system.