The Farnesina Palace and its Collections

The Farnesina building was designed by architects Del Debbio, Foschini and Morpurgo between 1933 and 1935, in the Orti della Farnesina area between Monte Mario and the Tiber river, formerly the property of Pope Paul III of the Farnesina family.

The Palace has all the features of Italian architecture of the 1920s and 30s: monumentality, mass, rhythm and symmetry. It was not until 1940 however, with construction already under way, that the decision was made that it should house the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, known to all the world as “la Farnesina”.

Rome had 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 building since 1959.

The building

With a main façade measuring 169 metres wide and 51 metres high, the 9-storey building covering a total surface of 120,000 square metres and 720,000 cubic metres, shared the record for Italy's largest construction in terms of volume with the Royal Palace of Caserta.
In September 2003 the building underwent a general renovation, with a variety of energy, lighting and engineering companies providing a highly advanced and elegantly designed lighting system.

A contemporary art collection

Since 2000 the  Farnesina Palace has been home to a prestigious collection of contemporary Italian art consisting of over 200 paintings, sculptures, mosaics and installations, that bears continuing witness to the creative dynamism and vitality of the contemporary art scene in Italy.