Italy · 15th century
The Palazzo Venezia (Italian: [paˈlattso veˈnɛttsja]; 'Venice Palace') or Palazzo Barbo, formerly Palazzo di San Marco ('Saint Mark's Palace'), is a large early Renaissance palace in central Rome, Italy, situated to the north of the Capitoline Hill. Today the property of the Italian Republic it houses the National Museum of the Palazzo Venezia. The main (eastern) facade measures 77 metres (253 ft) in length, with a height (excluding tower) of about 31 metres (102 ft). The north wing, containing the "Cibo Apartment", extending westwards, measures 122 metres (400 ft) in length. It covers an area of 1.2 hectares (2.9 acres) and encloses two gardens and the Basilica of Saint Mark.
It was built in the present form during the 1450s by Cardinal Pietro Barbo (1417–1471), titular holder of the Basilica of Saint Mark, who from 1464 ruled as Pope Paul II. Barbo, a Venetian by birth as was customary for cardinals of the Basilica of Saint Mark, lived there even as pope and amassed there a great collection of art and antiquities. During the first half of the 20th century it became the residence and headquarters of Benito Mussolini, dictator of Fascist Italy (1922–1943), who made notable orations from its balcony to huge crowds filling the Piazza Venezia.
Text adapted from “Palazzo Venezia” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.
Palazzo Venezia ranks #242 of 9,079 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #16 of the 560 mapped in Italy. Founded c. 1450, it is older than 47% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 554 atlas entries founded in the 15th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 15,681 times in the last 60 days, more than 96% of the atlas. 65 more atlas landmarks stand within 25 km. The nearest day-trip guide is Rome, 1 km away. See how Italy compares in the castle statistics.
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