Rome (IT), Palazzo Venezia, Consistory Hall (also Hall of the Battles or Hall of Victory) [deleted] - 1930
The inscription, no longer extant,
was realised in 1930 on the walls of the Consistory Hall (‘Sala del Concistoro’),
also known as Hall of the Battles or Hall of Victory (‘Sala delle Battaglie’ or
‘Sala della Vittoria’), of Palazzo Venezia. It was deleted after World War II,
in around 1945. The author of the text is Pietro Fedele.
The inscription was added in Roman
square capitals to the frescoed trompe-l’oeil beams on the walls of the hall (see the photographs in Hermanin 1948: 184 and Casanova 1992:
163). The text commemorates the reacquisition of Palazzo Venezia, which had
previously hosted the Embassy of Austro-Hungarian Empire, thanks to the Victory
in World War I. It also celebrates the end of the restoration of the
building, which became the seat of the Fascist government from 1929 onwards by
the will of Mussolini. The rebirth of the palace was thus made to symbolise the
rise of new, prosperous era – the Fascist era.
The ancient Consistory Hall in Palazzo Venezia was restored by the architect
Armando Brasini (1879–1965), and its walls were decorated by the painter
Giovanni Costantini (1872–1947). Brasini designed a roof decoration with
medallions quoting the names of World War I battles in which Italy had been victorious
in order to glorify the country’s military feats (hence the modern alternative
names Hall of the Battles and Hall of Victory).
Bibliography
Casanova, Maria Letizia. 1992. Palazzo Venezia. Rome: Editalia, 160; 252.
Diebner, Sylvia. 2016. ‘Romanità fascista im Palazzo Venezia in Rom
inszenierung der Macht im Arbeits- und Repräsentationssaal von Mussolini’. RIASA 71 (s. 3, 39): 325–406.
Fedele, Pietro. 1931. ‘Il Palazzo di Venezia nella storia antica e
nuova di Roma’. L’Illustrazione Italiana 16 (suppl.): 7–9.
Hermanin, Federico. 1948. Il palazzo di Venezia.
Rome: La libreria dello Stato, 181–84.
Nastasi, Antonino. 2019. Le iscrizioni in latino di Roma
Capitale (1870-2018). Rome: Edizioni Quasar, 680–81.
Zajotti, Alberto. 1931. ‘Il palazzo Venezia a Roma e la sua nuova scala d’onore’. Rivista di Venezia 10 (5): 161–66.
Antonino Nastasi
Inscription no longer extant in Consistory Hall at Palazzo Venezia from Diebner 2016: 394.