Palazzo Venezia

This early Renaissance palace beside Piazza Venezia was among the first grand residences of its kind in the city, built in the fifteenth century for a Venetian cardinal who became pope. In the twentieth century its balcony became notorious as the platform from which Mussolini addressed crowds below. Today it houses a national museum whose collection ranges across medieval and Renaissance sculpture, ceramics, arms, and decorative arts. A peaceful garden courtyard with a fountain and loggia offers a retreat from the surrounding traffic.