Animated visits

A secret garden, a marketplace and two majestic complexes. Perusing maps of Piazza Venezia old and new is a journey back in time, as with an illustrated history album. The animated visit leads students through the historical and artistic happenings in this part of Rome and its buildings: Palazzo Venezia, one of the most outstanding Renaissance residences in the city, and the Monument to Vittorio Emanuele II, first King of Italy. Each student creates his/her own sentimental map, inserting a snapshot of the Vittoriano, the details and colours of frescoes in Palazzo Venezia and the  story that has most struck his/her imagination, plus a proposal for the future of the city.

Palazzo Venezia and Vittoriano Palazzo Venezia Ticket Office, entrance at Via del Plebiscito 118

A symbol of a united and independent Italy, the Vittoriano soon became a key location in the nation’s collective imagination. But who is the architect who designed it? What models inspired it? Why are its marbles so blindingly white? These plus other questions and doubts will be resolved during an animated visit that explores the fascinating spaces of the monument, retracing its history and conducting an architectural and artistic investigation into its materials, geometries and volumes. Using a special teaching aid students will graphically process the iconic image of the Vittoriano using collage and drawing.

Vittoriano Biglietteria di Palazzo Venezia, ingresso via del Plebiscito n. 118

A narrative route illustrating the life and heroic feats of protagonists of Italian history: the adventures of Garibaldi in the two worlds, Mazzini’s travels through Europe, the courageous acts of the first female patriots. As they pass through the rooms of the Museo Centrale del Risorgimento, students will discover the stories behind the portraits, uniforms and memorabilia of those who fought for a united Italy over the years. A special teaching aid allows students to reinvent their own hero of today, using drawing and collage to create original uniforms.

Vittoriano and Museo Centrale del Risorgimento Palazzo Venezia Ticket Office, entrance at Via del Plebiscito 118

Little Ferdinando Orsini portrayed with his brothers in Tiberio Titi's painting will accompany children on a lively exploration of Palazzo Venezia, making the spaces and works displayed in the museum more familiar.

It will be his maquette that will introduce the young visitors to the Appartamento Barbo and the Saloni Monumentali, urging them through riddles and observation games to learn about the intended use of the rooms, “the master of the house,” Pope Paul II, his collecting passion including that for parrots, and the many parties organized inside and outside his palace.

The tale in the form of a fairy tale of the history of Palazzo Venezia will continue in the museum, where “Nando” will involve putti and children portrayed in the paintings of the picture gallery, to draw visitors' attention to those details best known to the world of childhood and facilitate learning about the contents of the works.

Later in the workshop, each child can draw and color the rampant lion of the Barbo coat of arms.

 

Palazzo Venezia

Where will the wide steps of this great white monument lead?

The young visitors will be the protagonists of a treasure hunt conceived as an ascent of the Vittoriano: in fact, the route will be marked, from the entrance gate to the Piazzale del Bollettino, by riddles, clues, and crossword puzzles to foster the sense of spatial orientation, the spirit of observation and to make this unusual place familiar.
The statue of the king on horseback will become the visual reference point for shifting the gaze to some architectural elements and details of the sculptural decoration that, through play, will enable learning in pills of the contents enclosed in the monument.
The identification of the Mount Grappa rock will correspond to the delivery of the last tile of a mosaic that will see the children reassemble the picture of the equestrian monument of Victor Emmanuel II.

Vittoriano

The many roles of the lion from the heraldic emblem of Pope Paul II Barbo to the symbol of the Venetian Republic, from protagonist of one of the twelve labors of Hercules to attribute of St. Jerome in the reliefs of Mino da Fiesole. The iconographic reading of this subject, so familiar to children, the discovery of its behavioral qualities through some tales from Medieval Bestiaries, will enable them to deduce its function and significance in the reliefs, sculptures, frescoes, paintings and decorations of Palazzo Venezia. This exploration will involve the facade on Via del Plebiscito, the Great Garden, the loggia, the Barbo Apartment, the Monumental Halls and some works from the museum collection by encouraging a reconstruction of the history of the palace from papal residence to exhibition venue.

Palazzo Venezia

Starting with the fountains with the personifications of the Adriatic and Tyrrhenian seas, the tour will continue involving the sculpture depicting the Goddess Rome, the representations of the “noble” cities in the pedestal of the equestrian statue of Victor Emmanuel II, and will conclude with the sculptures of the sixteen Regions in the Sommoportico and the stone of Monte Grappa. Through stories and the deciphering of symbols and allegories, participants will be directed to recognize places, the subjects of personifications and to place cities or seas on the map, accompanying them with drawings of the identifying attributes observed during the visit. In conclusion, the route of the train that brought the coffin of the Unknown Soldier to Rome will be drawn on the map itself, crossing much of the peninsula.

Vittoriano