Building complex of the Quirinale

Brief historical notes. The main place where the institutional life of the Italian Republic takes place, the Palazzo del Quirinale, built in successive phases between the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, was completed, in the aspect it still maintains, during the pontificate of Paolo V Borghese ( 1605-1621), thanks to the work of the greatest architects and artists of the time including Domenico Fontana, Flaminio Ponzio, Carlo Maderno, Gianlorenzo Bernini, to whom was entrusted, among other things, the design and construction of the Loggia delle Benedizioni, and Ferdinando Fuga who built the Long Sleeve and the Coffee House in the gardens. Between the 19th and 20th centuries, the Palazzo experienced a new phase, cause of the geopolitical changes taking place, which saw the intervention of other great artists and architects including Raffaele Stern, Bertel Thorvaldsen and Tommaso Minardi. The Palazzo del Quirinale has always been the residence of the powerful of the time passing from papal residence to residence of the royal family in the Savoy era, until, after 1948, it became the seat of the Presidency of the Italian Republic.