palazzo sciarra by artilucio

The Foundation’s offices are located in the historical building named Palazzo Sciarra which overlooks the Via del Corso in the centre of Rome where some of the most ancient sacred buildings rose during early Christianity and important noble mansions were built as from the XV century. In the second half of the sixteenth century the Sciarra branch of the Colonna family, who held the Principality of Carbognano, promoted this construction on the site where the Colonna family owned two separate buildings, called respectively the ‘Palazzo imperfetto’ and the ‘plazzetto’ which the Milanese architect Flamnio Ponzio had planned to be linked in 1610. In 1641, Oronzio Torrioni who took over the direction of the building site was the author of the noble and austere façade squared with ashlared angle irons, crowned with cornice on corbel and divided by three orders of windows. The monumental front entrance is characterized by an ashlared arch with two fluted columns with composite capitals on high plinths placed in front which support the first floor’s balustraded balcony. The face of the plinths and the balustrade are enriched with relief sculptured columns in remembrance of the prestigious Colonna family from which the Sciarra family descended. Due to the beauty of the portal the Palace was included amongst the ‘Four Wonders of Rome’ together with the Borghese cembalo (harpsichord), the Farnese cube and the Caetani staircase. In the eighteenth century Cardinal Prospero Colonna encouraged the Palace to be adapted to the style of the period. The architect and friend of the cardinal, Luigi Vanvitelli, planned and took part in the architectural and pictorial refurbishment. The domestic Library, the small picture Gallery and the Mirrors Cabinet, richly decorated with paintings are some of the halls that arose from the refurbishment which increased the historical and artistic value of the Palace. At the end of the nineteenth century Francesco Settimi attended to the enlargement of the right wing, refurbishment of the courtyard and restoration of the surrounding buildings. The Palace was considerably reduced in size between 1871 and 1898 when Prince Maffeo Sciarra commissioned the architect Giulio de Angelis to open the adjacent Via Minghetti, build the island by the Palace, the Quirino theatre and the Galleria Sciarra in the rear. http://j.mp/1yv9bsT via 500px http://j.mp/1pHblVF