Museo di Palazzo Venezia

The Museo di Palazzo Venezia on Piazza Venezia occupies the oldest surviving Renaissance palace in Rome, begun in 1455 for the Venetian cardinal Pietro Barbo, later Pope Paul II. The complex served as the embassy of the Republic of Venice until 1797 and then of Austria. The national museum moved in in 1916 and took curatorial responsibility for medieval and Renaissance works. The notorious balcony on the piazza facade was used by Benito Mussolini for his speeches from 1929 onward; his Sala del Mappamondo office is now open to visitors. The collection includes early panel paintings, bronze plaquettes, tapestries, majolica and Renaissance sculpture. Visitors find an often quiet palace with loggia, garden courtyard and a singular layering of art history and Fascist memory politics.