LifeStyle

Quirinal Palace shows off its treasures

Royal carriages, 3,800 ceramics and a dose of civic education

Redazione Ansa

(ANSA) - Rome, June 23 - Royal baby prams pushed by servants, luxurious carriages for children drawn by ponies or baby goats and an endless collection of nineteenth-century ceramics will from Tuesday be open to the public at the Quirinal Palace. Splendid halls filled with tapestry collections, gigantic chandeliers of Murano glass, frescoes, period clocks and much else will be shown on guided visits through a palace that was once that of popes and now houses the president. The aim is not only to inform from a historic-artistic point of view. It is meant as a journey inside art as well as a glimpse inside a part of Italian history and a way to understand better the functioning of one of the most important political institutions designed by the country's founding fathers. "The Quirinal is a live, vital palace for our democracy, a protagonist today like it was yesterday of the country's history, and as such fully deserves the name of the Home of Italians," said President Sergio Mattarella in a message on a new interactive site that makes it possible to get a virtual preview of what the actual visit is like. In some of the spaces that are no longer used as offices, there is an exhibition on the history of the palace in his historical-political development, with rooms that describe the residency of the popes, the Savoys and the twelve presidents of the republic. All is accompanied by books, previously exhibited documents and the original text of the constitution. However, it is the entire building that that takes in air and puts on flesh, showing parts of itself through a route that brings visitors from the ancient stables on the ground floor to the piano nobile through four acres of splendid gardens and its fountains. It would be impossible to list all the names of the halls crossed, but one cannot but point out the Paolina Chapel, where chamber music concerts are now held; the president's study, where he receives political representatives during consultations for the new government; the Napoleonico hall, decorated in a much more modern manner; the Biblioteca del Piffetti, a Savoy gem of a library; the Passaggetto di Urbano VIII, intricately decorated with eighteenth-century frescoes; and the circular sixteenth-century staircase of the Mascherino. Manifold other items of interest will be on display as well, such as Queen Margherita's ballroom dress, sewn in the second half of the nineteenth century and embroidered in silver and crystals on silk, and an elegant dessert set said to be of "Umberto I". There is also a reconstruction - made possible by the details of a painting, of the furniture of a room used for the 1879 meeting between Garibaldi e Vittorio Emanuele. The 'Vasella del Quirinale' is striking, where porcelain, silver and crystal objects are gathered. The crockery is unique a collection of 38,000 pieces of the main European manufacturers of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The visit ends with the papal stables, where over a hundred carriages including "antique Savoy sedan cars for grand galas".
    They include the "carriage for the betrothed", "the Telemachus carriage" and the unique "Egyptian" one, a model with depictions of the goddess Isis, very popular in the early nineteenth century. It was later painted black and used as a funeral car for the body of Carlo Alberto.
    Visits will be possible everyday except Monday and Thursday, but only via reservation with volunteer staff. There will be guided tours for groups of up to 30 people. The shortest route of about an hour and a half will be almost free of charge, as only the reservation fee will be due, while the longer and more thorough route will cost 10 euros.
   

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