Museum Palazzo Venezia

Museum Palazzo Venezia in Rome (with the official name Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia) is specialised in applied arts. The collection includes paintings, wooden sculptures, ceramics, bronzes, marbles, furniture, silverware, jewelry, tapestries and weaponry, mostly from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance.

The collection is spread out over 28 rooms on what is called the piano nobile, the first and principal floor of the palazzo. At the centre of the building there is a large garden.

The museum is located at the Piazza Venezia, opposite to the Complesso del Vittoriano (Altar of the Fatherland). The palazzo was built 1455 for cardinal Pietro Barbo, who later became Pope Paul II. From 1564 the building served as the embassy of the Republic of Venice, until it became the seat for the Austrian ambassador to the Vatican in the 19th century. During the Fascist period Benito Mussolini took office in the Palazzo Venezia and delivered many speeches from its balcony.