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.