The Biblioteca Estense , was the family library of the marquis and dukes of Este. The exact date of the library's birth is still under speculation, however it is known for certain that the library was in use during the fourteenth century. Whilst it was greatly enriched during the Renaissance years in Ferrara, the library was concretely established in Modena in the beginning of the seventeenth century. It is known as one of the most important libraries in Italy. The library is located, along with the Galleria Estense directly below its collection of artworks, in the Palazzo dei Musei in Modena.
The Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Roma , in Rome, is one of two central national libraries of Italy, along with Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze in Florence. In total, 9 national libraries exist, out of 46 state libraries.The library's mission is to collect and preserve all the publications in Italy and the most important foreign works, especially those related to Italy, and make them available to anyone.
The collection currently includes more than 7,000,000 printed volumes, 2,000 incunabula, 25,000 cinquecentine , 8,000 manuscripts, 10,000 drawings, 20,000 maps, and 1,342,154 brochures.
The Ca' d'Oro or Palazzo Santa Sofia is a palace on the Grand Canal in Venice, northern Italy. One of the older palaces in the city, its name means "golden house" due to the gilt and polychrome external decorations which once adorned its walls. Since 1927, it has been used as a museum, as the Galleria Giorgio Franchetti.
It has long been regarded as the best surviving palazzo in Venetian Gothic architecture, retaining all the most characteristic features, despite some losses. On the facade, the loggia-like window group of closely spaced small columns, with heavy tracery with quatrefoil openings above, uses the formula from the Doge's Palace that had become iconic. There are also the byzantine-inspired decoration along the roofline, and patterning in fancy coloured stone to the flat wall surfaces. The smaller windows show a variety of forms with an ogee arch, capped with a relief ornament, and the edges and zone boundaries are marked with ropework reliefs.
The Sistine Chapel is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the official residence of the pope, in Vatican City. Originally known as the Cappella Magna , the chapel takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who restored it between 1473 and 1481. Since that time, the chapel has served as a place of both religious and functionary papal activity. Today, it is the site of the papal conclave, the process by which a new pope is selected. The fame of the Sistine Chapel lies mainly in the frescos that decorate the interior, most particularly the Sistine Chapel ceiling and The Last Judgment by Michelangelo.
During the reign of Sixtus IV, a team of Renaissance painters that included Sandro Botticelli, Pietro Perugino, Pinturicchio, Domenico Ghirlandaio and Cosimo Rosselli, created a series of frescos depicting the Life of Moses and the Life of Christ, offset by papal portraits above and trompe-l'œil drapery below. These paintings were completed in 1482, and on 15 August 1483 Sixtus IV celebrated the first mass in the Sistine Chapel for the Feast of the Assumption, at which ceremony the chapel was consecrated and dedicated to the Virgin Mary.Between 1508 and 1512, under the patronage of Pope Julius II, Michelangelo painted the chapel's ceiling, a project which changed the course of Western art and is regarded as one of the major artistic accomplishments of human civilization. In a different climate, after the Sack of Rome, he returned and, between 1535 and 1541, painted The Last Judgment for Popes Clement VII and Paul III. The fame of Michelangelo's paintings has drawn multitudes of visitors to the chapel ever since they were revealed five hundred years ago.
The Casa di Riposo per Musicisti is a home for retired opera singers and musicians in Milan, northern Italy, founded by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in 1896. The building was designed in the neo-Gothic style by Italian architect, Camillo Boito. Both Verdi and his wife, Giuseppina Strepponi are buried there. A documentary film about life in the Casa di Riposo, Il Bacio di Tosca , was made in 1984 by the Swiss director Daniel Schmid.
The Casino di Villa Boncompagni Ludovisi is a villa in Porta Pinciana, Rome, Italy. Measuring 2.200 square meters, it is all that remains of a country retreat, best known as Villa Ludovisi, established in the 16th century by Cardinal Francesco Maria Del Monte. The Cardinal was a diplomat, intellectual, art connoisseur, collector, and protector and patron of such very different figures as Galileo and Caravaggio. The Casino is often referred to as the Villa Aurora, after the important fresco by Guercino, located in the Villa's main reception room, depicting the goddess Aurora. One of the smaller rooms of the casino boasts the only painting ever executed by Caravaggio on a ceiling, Jupiter, Neptune and Pluto, which reflects, in symbolic imagery derived from Classical mythology, another of the cardinal's interests, alchemy.
Del Monte sold the Villa Ludovisi and its extensive grounds to Cardinal Ludovico Ludovisi in 1621. Due to the Ludovisi's family financial duress, the whole park was sold off in the 1880s and built up with hotels and expensive houses, including palazzi for members of the family. The facade of the main casino or Casino Grande is now hidden behind the 19th-century Palazzo Margherita. This building was acquired by the Italian State and became the residence of Queen Mother Margherita. It now houses the U.S. embassy.
The only part not sold was the Villa Aurora, which remains in the possession of the Ludovisi family, encircled by high walls and open to the public on written request. Apart from the works by Caravaggio and Guercino, it contains important works of art by Pomarancio, Michelangelo, and a collection of Roman and Greek artefacts.
