Palazzo Farnese designed by Michelangelo

PALAZZO FARNESE DESIGNED BY MICHELANGELO

Begun initially as a palace for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (or more specifically for his illegitimate son), the plan was enlarged and changed once the Cardinal became Pope Paul III. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger died in 1546 before the palace was completed so Michelangelo was brought in as architect late in the project. The three-story palace is enormous--185 feet with 13 bays and nearly 100 feet tall. Like many Florentine palazzi, it is a square free-standing block with a central courtyard. It lacks textural emphasis in the masonry, however, using rustication only in the archway of the entrance.

Each register is clearly demarcated. The bottom register uses "kneeling" windows, a type invented by Michelangelo. The piano nobile has "tabernacle" windows or strongly projecting aedicula windows with columns on each side with Corinthian capitals. Arched and triangular pediments alternate in the second register. The third story has arched windows, all with triangular pediments. The large, strongly projecting cornice was added by Michelangelo.

On the garden side, which faces the Tiber, Michelangelo proposed to give the palazzo's vast bulk some breathing room with a bridge to link the center of the garden facade with the Pope's villa, the Villa Farnesina on the Trastevere side.

Michelangelo redesigned the entrance. He removed the pediment in the central bay on the piano nobile and added additional flanking columns and pilasters. The Farnese coat of arms is displayed on three grand cartouches.
As a consequence of extinction of the Farnese dynasty into the Bourbons and access of Carlo di Borbone (1716-1788) to the throne of Naples (Carlo VII 1734-1759), Palazzo Farnese followed the destiny of the Neapolitan family starting from the 18th century.
The governments of the French Republic wished to inherit the palace as a seat of their Embassy in Rome starting from 1874, first in form of rent from Bourbons, and then, in 1911, by its purchasing for three million of francs with the right given to Italy to ransom during 25 years.

In 1936 Palazzo Farnese was purchased by the Italian State, which gave it immediately in rent of French Embassy for 99 years on the base of symbolic payment. The palace possesses a rich library with 100,000 volumes, important documentation about the history of France, and a collection of 130,000 photographs taken from the air of the south of France executed during the second world war.

The palazzo, which faces a piazza bearing its name, is today the home to the French Embassy and is located in Campo dei Fiori .

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