Palazzo dei Conservatori, Rome

Palazzo dei Conservatori is the historic palace before you in Piazza del Campidoglio, set beside Palazzo Senatorio and across from Palazzo Nuovo. Its name comes from the Conservatori, Rome’s elected civic officials, who governed the city alongside the Senator across almost four centuries. Pope Nicholas the Fifth commissioned the palace to proclaim papal authority over civic power.

Michelangelo Buonarroti created the present facade and later reshaped the piazza, though he died before the project was complete. His design swept away the medieval arcade, replacing it with enormous pilasters rising from substantial bases and a rhythm of enlarged matching windows. Guido Guidetti carried the work forward, and Giacomo Della Porta finished it in fifteen sixty-eight, closely following Michelangelo’s plans.

The facade turns a civic building into a grand public stage. Palazzo dei Conservatori now forms part of the Capitoline Museums with Palazzo Nuovo and the Tabularium. In its courtyard, fragments from Constantine’s colossal seated image preserve the astonishing scale of an emperor once rendered in marble, metal drapery, and stucco.