Relief at the base of the column: (left) the whole relief (right-above) Emperor Antoninus Pius and his wife Annia Faustina (right-below) the Roman she-wolf with Romulus and Remus They have ended in an open air warehouse at the foot of the Aventine hill. It housed a lengthy inscription which celebrated the completion of the building and a coat of arms of Pope Innocent XII. The small map at the top of the page shows that Palazzo di Montecitorio had a very large courtyard which does not exist any longer. Inscription celebrating the completion of the building and a coat of arms of Pope Innocent XII Today small crowds often gather here to voice their views to the Members of Parliament. Starting in 1743 crowds gathered every two weeks in Piazza di Montecitorio to attend the lottery draw which took place on the balcony (see an etching made before 1789 - it opens in another window). The reliefs portray Charity (left) and Justice (right) and are a reference to the activities carried out in the building. The project by Bernini provided for a balcony supported by telamones, but Fontana chose a simpler design. The unfinished palace was bought by Pope Innocent XII who asked Carlo Fontana to complete it and to adapt it to house tribunals and a hospice for the poor. Hare wrote about it in his 1875 Walks in Rome, a rather detailed guide to the monuments of Rome. Palazzo di Montecitorio failed to attract the interest of XIXth century travellers: The Palace of the Monte Citorio (designed by Bernini) contains public offices connected with police, passports, &c. The construction of the palace was not completed owing to the death of Prince Ludovisi in 1664. Rock-like decoration of the eastern smaller wingīernini decorated the smaller side wings with fake rocks, as he had done in Fontana dei Quattro Fiumi and other architects of his time did, e.g. Its design is remarkable for the convexity of the façade to which Piranesi dedicated one of his etchings (it opens in another window). Vasi calls the palace Curia Innocenziana because it was completed by Pope Innocent XII. Palazzo di Montecitorio was designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini in 1653 for Prince Niccolò Ludovisi and his wife Costanza Pamphilj di San Martino the former was a nephew of Pope Gregory XV and the latter the niece of Pope Innocent X, the reigning pope. (left) View of the palace (inset) heraldic symbols of Pope Innocent XII in the cornice The pedestal was moved to Musei Vaticani. The obelisk (broken and lacking some parts) was found in 1748 and during the pontificate of Pope Pius VI it was restored and placed in Piazza di Montecitorio. The pedestal of the column was replaced in 1789 by the obelisk which served as the gnomon of Horologium Divi Augusti. A new entrance was built on the back of the enlarged palace, but it is very rarely used. The façade of the palace is untouched although its interior was largely modified after 1871 to adapt it to the needs of Camera dei Deputati, the Lower House of the Italian Parliament. (left) The view in July 2009 (right) symbols of passing time at the top of the palace (see a page on Memento Mori - Representation of Death in Baroque Rome) Missione 4) Colonna Antonina 5) Palazzo Chigi. In theĭescription below the plate Vasi made reference to: 1) Curia Innocenziana (Palazzo di Montecitorio) 2) pedestal ofĬolonna di Antonino Pio 3) Casa dei Signori della The view is taken from the green dot in the 1748 map below. Mons Acceptorius (mountain fit for receiving) is thought to be the source of the current name, although others believe it derives from Mons Citatorius, because of the citations (orders to appear in a law court) which were hung on the pedestal of the column to Antoninus Pius. Monte Citorio was the name given to a small mound originating from the levelling of the nearby area where Emperor Augustus built Horologium Divi Augusti, a gigantic sundial. Giovanni Battista Piranesi, almost at the same time as Vasi, published an etching in which the size of the pedestal was greatly magnified (it opens in another window).
The pedestal and parts of the column were found in 1703 in the property of Casa dei Signori della Missione which was located in the north-western corner of the square. In 1752, when Giuseppe Vasi published this etching, Piazza di Montecitorio had just been embellished by Pope Benedict XIV with the decorated pedestal of a red granite column erected to celebrate Emperor Antoninus Pius and Annia Faustina, his wife. 2, Map B2, Day 1, View C6, and Rione Colonna.
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