In 1478, the land on which Palazzo Madama was built was ceded to the French by the monks of the Imperial Abbey at Farfa, as a place in which to accommodate French pilgrims to Rome. The first important refurbishments were carried out when the building passed into the hands of the Medici family.

It was restored to a design by Giuliano Sangallo, and the remains of the library of Giovanni de' Medici - the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent and later Pope Leo X - were moved here after the Medici had been ousted from Florence. When Leo X died in 1521, the Palazzo passed to his cousin Giulio de' Medici, who had lived here for a long time before becoming pope with the name of Clement VII. In 1534, it was inherited by Alessandro de' Medici, who died in 1537, whereupon it was given in usufruct to his widow Margaret of Austria, called the "Madama" [after whom the building came to be called], the natural daughter of Charles V of Habsburg and Duchess of Parma and Piacenza, who established her residence here.

The building remained the property of the Medicis and the Grand-Dukes of Tuscany until the 18th century. Major renovation work was carried out in the seventeenth century: a Baroque façade, designed by Paolo Marucelli and completed in 1642, replaced the older asymmetric front and the interior was enriched with decorated ceilings and friezes under the supervision of Romano Monanni. The Medicis, however, did not use the building again until 1725, when Violante of Bavaria, sister-in-law of Gian Gastone de' Medici, the last member of the Medici family, came to live here.

Palazzo Madama then experienced its final period of splendour: parties and balls were held here and it was the seat of the Arcadia and the Accademia dei Quirini. When Gian Gastone died in 1737, the Grand Duchy was transferred from the Medicis to the Lorrainers, and Palazzo Madama with it. In 1755, it was purchased by Pope Benedict XIV and became a government building of the Papal State. Substantial work was again undertaken: a second courtyard was opened in the area which now accommodates the Senate chamber, while the square outside the main entrance was redesigned.

In later years, law courts and the Police Headquarters were housed here, and the name of the building came to mean "the police" - and to this very day, Romans still often refer to the police as la Madama! The central office of the French-supported Roman Republic of 1798-99 was also in Palazzo Madama. Pope Pius IX moved the Finance and Public Debt Department here, and it appears that the drawing of lotto numbers was transferred from Palazzo Montecitorio [today's Chamber of Deputies] to the balcony of Palazzo Madama in 1850. The Pontifical Post Office was relocated here in 1851.

In September 1870, the Italian troops stormed Rome and put an end to the Papal States. Rome became the capital of Italy and, in February 1871, Palazzo Madama was chosen as the seat of the Senate of the Kingdom. This made it necessary to adapt the Palazzo to its new use: according to a design by Luigi Gabet, the courtyard of the Post Office was converted into the Senate chamber, and the Senate sat here for the first time on 28 November 1871.

Palazzo Madama now houses the Senate chamber, the offices of several Parliamentary Groups, the President and Secretary-General of the Senate and their staff, and some offices closely related to parliamentary activity.

Ground floor

Official Courtyard
This is a typical Renaissance environment. Its six columns are the vestiges of the building asit was at the time of Leo X. The statue by Emilio Grecowas placed in the centre of the courtyard in 1972.
The old travertine floor was replaced by marble.

Monumental Staircase
The Monumental Staircase of St Louis de France, opened in 1931, is surmounted by an imposing ceilingin solid wood with large recessed panels, dating backto the sixteenth century. The Medici coat of arms can be seen in the centre, dominating the scheme of decorative motifs featuring mermaids and tritons based on the theme of the battle of the marine gods. The dark background contrasts beautifully with the glitterand texture of the fine gilded carvings, making them stand out even more.

First floor

Maccari Hall
This hall is named after Cesare Maccari [1840-1919], the artist who decorated it after winning the bid published by the Ministry of Education in 1880. The ceiling has four medallions with allegorical figures, representing commerce, agriculture, arms, science, letters and thearts, arranged around a central motif symbolising Italy.The frieze bears a sentence by Guicciardini and another by Machiavelli.
The walls are painted with episodes from the history of the Roman Senate: after entering the hall, on the right there is Appius Claudius the Censor beingled to the Senate to exhort the Romans not to accept the humiliating conditions for peace imposed by Pyrrhus'ambassador, Cineas.
On the opposite wall between the windows, is a painting depicting Marcus Papirius seated motionless in the face of the Gallic invasion, and another of the Samnites attempting to bribe Curius Dentatus to convince the Senate to make peace.
On the other, shorter, side is a fresco showing Cicero deliveringhis oration against Catiline, who listens from his seat, isolated from the others. The last fresco shows Atilius Regulus leaving Rome, after being captured by the Carthaginians in the Battle of Tunis and sent back to his country to negotiate on condition that he was considered to be a prisoner.

Senators' Lounge
This is a spacious room, designed by Marucelli, with a ceiling featuring pale stucco figurines and friezes completed in 1931. On the wall overlooking the barcounter [on which there stands a statuette in the form of a fountain by Vincenzo Gemito, 1852-1929] is a particularly fine sixteenth-century Medici tapestry with a large coat of arms and wide bordures, previously hanging in the Uffizi in Florence. Two still life paintings by Luciano Ventrone, The Pause [2002] and The Returnof Ulysses [2002], grace the other walls.

Italy Hall
This vast hall was created by demolishing a dividing wall in the early 1930s [this wall stood in line with the second window counting from the Risorgimento Hallend]. The coffered ceiling is modern, whereas the frescoed frieze dates from the seventeenth century.
Its motifs are not in sequence, since they were originally intended for two different rooms and, judging from certain details, they are by two different artists. Putti and lions feature in the part towards the Senators'Lounge and female figures predominate in the other section.
They are all arranged around six historical frescoes [there were originally eight frescoes, but the two that were painted on the dividing wall were transferred to the Cavour Hall].
The Tower of the Crescenzi family is visible from one of the windows. It is a typical small twelfth century fortress-like construction which was left standing among the later buildings. The seascape, Black and Blue [2003], by Piero Guccione was placed in this room in 2003.

Ostrich Hall
This room boasts a splendid sixteenth-century coffered ceiling, in the centre of which the figure of an ostrich takes pride of place. According to some, the ostrich may have been chosen to symbolise Margaret of Austria's original lineage, through a play on words between Autriche [Austria] and autruche [ostrich].
Others are convinced, however, that this bird was chosen as a heraldic symbol of speed and precedence, or of steadfastness and strength, or as a symbolof passionate love. In any event, the ostrich was adopted as an emblem by an important figure in the Medici family who held no religious position, as testified by the crown on the bird's head.

Risorgimento Hall
This room contains busts and portraits of some of the most important figures of the Italian Risorgimento, in a studied arrangement in which democratic republicans alternate with liberal constitutionalists, the two movements that characterised the Kingdom of Sardinia after 1848. The frieze depicts events from the reign of Clement VII.

Signature Hall
It bears this name because senators used to sign an attendance register in this room. The walls are hung with three tapestries from the Medici collection, illustrating the story of Tobit and his son Tobias from the Catholic Bible.
The coffered ceiling with its gilt decorations dates from the seventeenth century, as does the frieze with its little putti, fruit, vine leaves, flowers, and medallions depicting historical events from the time of Cardinal Alessandro de' Medici, the future Pope Leo XI.

Marconi Hall
A frieze attributed to Pietro Paolo Baldini, depicting episodes from the reign of Pius IV, ornates this recently restored room. The Marconi Hall houses the busts of Guglielmo Marconi and Pietro Canonica and two paintings by Giovanni Paolo Pannini [1691-1765] depicting views of the Forum and the Baths of Diocletian.

Antechamber of the Balustrade
The gilded wooden ceiling and frieze date from the seventeenth century. On the walls are two works by Biagio Falcieri [1628-1703]: the first depicting Zeuxis, an ancient Greek painter, choosing the most beautiful features of a number of young girls to paint Ideal Beauty; and the second showing Alexander the Great ordering Apelles to paint a portrait of Campaspe, and one by Carlo Dolci [1616-1686], entitled Salome with the Head of John the Baptist.

Choir Hall
Its walls are lined with the chair backs of a seventeenth-century walnut choir stall from a seminaryin Ancona. The circular wrought-iron chandelier was made by Alberto Gerardi [1889-1965] without welding. This room also contains busts of Vittorio Emanuele Orlando, Francesco Saverio Nitti and Luigi Einaudi.

Pannini Hall
This room houses a fresco painted in 1725-26 by Pannini[1691-1765], formerly located in Palazzo Bachetoni in Via del Tritone, which was due for demolition under the 1926 city plan. In the centre of the ceiling is a Sun Chariot enveloped in thick banks of cloud from which radiate imaginary architecture, aerial perspectives, allegorical figures, putti, amphorae and garlands of flowers. The Senate Bureau and the Conferenceof Parliamentary Group Leaders meet in this room.

Corridor of the Hero
The more important of the two corridors next to the sitting chamber is the Corridor of the Hero, named after the fresco by Lodovico Giminiani [1643-1697] decorating the ceiling. The fresco originally adorned a corridor in the now demolished Palazzo Carpegna, and was probably made to extol the memory of the legendary founder of the family.
In the middle picture, the Hero escorted by Hercules receives the solemn recognition of his feats from Jupiter, who is sitting next to Mars and Venus. The trumpets of fame announce his glory. The pagan theme of this fresco is a rarity for the historical period in which it was painted.

Cavour Hall
This room houses the two friezes that formerly decorated the wall that used to divide Italy Hall. An oval painting of Bacchus and Ariadne by Giambattista Pittoni[1698-1767] is nested in the middle of the coffered ceiling.
The room is open to members of the government during sittings and is occasionally used for meetings of the Council of Ministers.

Senate Chamber
The Senate Chamber, designed by Luigi Gabet, occupies the former courtyard of the old papal Post Office. In the1930s, the galleries of the Deputies and Diplomatic Corps, supported by pillars rising from the floor, were replacedby higher overhanging galleries. Other alterations were also made to the middle aisle to increase the numberof seats, but the original structures and the decorationsin this room have remained virtually unchanged.
The ceiling is the work of little-known artists [Fumanti,Nava, Bruschi, Mei, Barilli and Gai], and features symbolic representations of Strength, Justice, Concord and Law.

Second floor

The President's Office
The windows of the office of the President of the Senatein Palazzo Madama overlook the dome of the Baroque Church of Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona. The room is decorated with a painting from the school of Bonifazio Veronese, Adoration of the Magi, and, on the opposite wall, a portrait of a man by Gerrit van Honthorst [1590-1656], a Dutch Mannerist painter known in Italy as Gherardo delle Notti [Gerard of the Night Scenes] because of his many candlelit nocturnal paintings. There is also a paintingon a Gospel theme by the Neapolitan artist Luca Giordano[1632-1705]: Render unto Caesar the Things which are Caesar's. Between the two windows hangs the fifteenth century Virgin and Child with Saint John and Saint Blaise [in the manner of Pinturicchio] and on the opposite wall a tapestry showing Aristotle with his pupil Alexander of Macedonia [the future Alexander the Great].

Antechamber of the Quaestors
This room, which overlooks the Palm Courtyard, is reached by means of an elaborate wooden staircase behind the Public Gallery. Two tapestries adorn the walls: Narcissus, 330 x 330 cm., wool woven with high heald looms by the Scassa Tapestry Manufactory at Asti according to a design by Corrado Cagli [1910-1976]; and Prudence, from the seventeenth century. On the wall to the right of the wooden staircase hangs Triumph of Reason [2003],a painting by Sandro Chia.