Palazzo Montecitorio
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The Palazzo Montecitorio is a palace in Rome, which is currently the seat of the Italian Chamber of deputies.
[edit] History
The building was originally designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini for the young Cardinal Ludovisi, nephew of Pope Gregory XV. However, with the death of Gregory XV by 1623, work stopped, and was not restarted until the papacy of pope Innocent X, when it was completed by the architect Carlo Fontana, who modified Bernini's plan with the addition of a bell gable above the main entrance.
In 1696 the Curia apostolica (papal law courts) was installed there. Later it was home to the Governatorato di Roma (the city administration during the fascist period) and the police headquarters.
With the Unification of Italy in 1861 and the transfer of the capital to Rome 1870, Montecitorio was chosen as the seat of the Chamber of deputies, after consideration of various possibilities. The former internal courtyard was roofed over and converted into a semi-circular assembly room.
But the original palace was not ideally suited to its new role and it was rebuilt during the early 1900s leaving only the facade intact. The architect, Ernesto Basile, was an exponent of Art nouveau. He added the so-called Transatlantico, the long and impressive salon which surrounds the debating chamber and now acts as the informal centre of Italian politics.
The debating chamber is characterized by numerous decorations in the Art nouveau style: the impressive canopy of coloured glass (the work of Giovanni Beltrami), the pictorial frieze entitled "the Italian People" (by Giulio Aristide Sartorio) which surrounds the chamber, the bronze figures flanking the presidential and government benches, and the panels depicting "the Glory of the Savoyard dynasty" by Davide Calandra.
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