Research

VIVE preserves two historical archives. The first archive is from the Royal Superintendence of medieval and modern galleries and museums for the provinces of Rome, L’Aquila, Chieti and Teramo. Established in 1904, it has repeatedly changed its name and partly its functions, becoming Royal Superintendence of Galleries in the 1920s, Superintendence of the Rome I Galleries after the Second World War, Superintendence for the historical and artistic heritage of Rome in the mid-seventies, Superintendence for the Roman museum centre at the beginning of 2000 and finally Special Superintendence for the Historical, Artistic and Ethno-anthropological Heritage for the Museum of the City of Rome.

The archive consists of 7120 archival items including files and registers and covers an overall chronological period ranging from 1896 to 2011, with documents from 1829, such as those relating to fideicommissa.

The Superintendence managed Palazzo Venezia for over a hundred years and the Vittoriano for two years, from 2002 to 2004. The archive therefore constitutes an essential source, especially for reconstructing the story of Palazzo Venezia.  In this sense, the collection of the Works Committee of Palazzo Venezia, which documents the impressive restoration campaign carried out in the building between 1917 and 1940, deserves a particular mention. 

The archive was rearranged and inventoried between 2010 and 2011 by Vincenzo De Meo, Alessia Glielmi and Fabio Simonelli.

The second is the Archive of the Museum of Palazzo Venezia. This archive contains a further series of materials relating to the restoration campaign of 1917-1940, including the Hermanin Archive, so-called precisely because it is linked to the work carried out by the art historian Federico Hermanin, and the Mail Registry of the Committee for the restoration works of Palazzo di Venezia, the inventory of the Wurts Collection and that of the Odescalchi weapons collection.

The graphic nucleus which includes the drawings made by Ada Levi to document the state of conservation of the frescoes in the Sala del Mappamondo at the time of their surface removal, the sketches by Federico Hermanin for setting up the first rooms of the museum, a series of watercolour drawings of the majolica floors and the sketches for the decoration of the Sala delle Battaglie by Armando Brasini dated 1927 are all particularly important. 

Consultation
If you want to consult the historical archives, send an email to: : vi-ve@cultura.gov.it to make an appointment.

Contact details
Dr Lia Di Giacomo
lia.digiacomo@cultura.gov.it

VIVE preserves 106,000 catalogue entries of the artistic and historical heritage on the territory and in the museums of the city of Rome and Lazio. 

About 26,000 of these cards, mostly handwritten, date back to the period between 1895 and 1970, and constitute one of the most consistent historical collections in the national territory.

Consultation
If you want to consult the Catalogue Archive, send an email to: vi-ve@cultura.gov.it

Contact details
Dr Lia Di Giacomo
lia.digiacomo@cultura.gov.it

VIVE preserves over 700,000 images of artistic and historical assets present in the territory and in the museums of Rome and Lazio, as well as the photographic heritage of the National Museum of the Palazzo di Venezia: these are 2000 negatives on glass plates, 300,000 black and white negatives on film, 320,000 positives on black and white paper, 70,000 colour slides and 25,000 digital files.

Among the historical collections, it is worth mentioning the Studio De Lisio collection, a small group of albumen prints with views of Rome presumably made by the photographic studio de Lisio in Naples, between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and the War Damage collection which includes images of the damage suffered by Italian monuments during the Second World War. 

Fundamental to the history of Palazzo Venezia is the Hermanin collection, so named due to the close link with the activity carried out by art historian Federico Hermanin (Bari, 1868 - Rome, 1953), Superintendent of the Galleries and Museums of Lazio and the Abruzzi from 1913 to 1938 and director of the Palazzo Venezia Museum from 1916. 

The collection in fact includes photographs dating from the late 19th century to 1960 which document the appearance of the complex before the Palazzetto was moved, the layout of the museum rooms by Hermanin himself, the preparatory models of the Scala Nova and its capitals as well as the construction works.

If you want to know more about the Photographic Archive click here (ANN. 1)

Consultation
If you want to consult the Catalogue Archive, send an email to: vi-ve@cultura.gov.it

If you want to request a photo of the Archive for personal use or for study purposes or for non-profit promotion click here.

If you want to purchase photos from the Archive and use them for profit  click here.

If you want to use a photo from the Archive for profit, that you already have click here.

To find out more, consult our Regulations (ANN. 10D.2. Regulations)

Contact details
Dr Lia Di Giacomo - Director
lia.digiacomo@cultura.gov.it