The Quirinal Palace can be visited by reservation. There’s a wealth of history and sights to explore at the Quirinale.
The Quirinale in Ancient Times
In the area of the Quirinale hill, the Temple of Quirinus was built in the 4th century BC, giving the hill its name, alongside the Temple of Salus, where ceremonies for the welfare of the state were held. The most prominent features on the hill were the Baths of Constantine and the Temple of Serapis, built by Caracalla in 217 AD. The two sculptural groups of the Dioscuri come from the ancient Roman temple, so enduring in the Quirinale that the hill became known as Monte Cavallo.
The Quirinale hill is one of Rome’s hills, defined by its rocky mass, separated from the Pincio to the north by the Valle Sallustiana and from the Viminale to the south by the Valle di Quirino, later named San Vitale. The northwest and south sides used to drop steeply, with sharp elevation differences, now barely noticeable due to urban development, especially the construction of the papal palaces.
The Collis Quirinalis
In antiquity, the Quirinale was the ‘collis’ par excellence and each peak was called ‘colles’ as well. The name Quirinale came to denote the entire hill, originally made up of four peaks: collis Latiaris, collis Mucialis or Sanqualis, collis Salutaris and collis Quirinalis.
The collis Quirinalis had major strategic significance and was strongly fortified from early times; it was later included within the city’s Servian walls (4th century BC). According to archaeological and documentary evidence, collis Quirinalis covered the area between the Collina Gate of the Servian Wall and Via delle Quattro Fontane (where the “porta Quirinalis” was), collis Salutaris between this and Via della Dataria (the Salutaris Gate), collis Mucialis between this and Largo Magnanapoli (where the Sanqualis Gate was), and collis Latiaris up to the saddle that originally linked Quirinale to the Capitoline, later cut through by Emperor Trajan when building his forum.
Alta Semita
The main thoroughfare on the hill was the ancient Alta Semita (today’s Via del Quirinale – Via XX Settembre), connecting the Salutaris Gate to Collina Gate, running west to east toward Sabine lands. Major places of worship stood on the hill, many ancient like those of Quirinus, Salus, Semosancus, and later the temple built by Emperor Domitian on his birthplace and the grandest, the Temple of Serapis built by Caracalla in the 3rd century AD.
The Quirinale in the Imperial Age
In the administrative division of the Augustan era, Quirinale was part of Region VI (Alta Semita). During the imperial age, regional boundaries shifted with the construction of the Aurelian walls in the 3rd century AD, including previously suburban areas like the Castra Praetoria and Horti Sallustiani.
The district was an aristocratic residential area from the Republican era, a distinction it retained well into the imperial period. Many patrician residences were located here, including those of Pomponius Atticus (friend of Cicero), the Gens Flavia, the Claudius family, Fulvius Plautianus; literary sources mention the poet Martial as a resident. The two male statues in Piazza del Quirinale represent the Dioscuri, restraining rearing horses—a rare iconography seen from the Severan period (3rd century AD).
The Quirinale from the 15th to 18th Centuries
The sculptures, likely from the Temple of Serapis, were reused in the Baths of Constantine after post-earthquake reconstruction in 443 AD. Attention to these sculptures revived in the 15th century, when Pope Paul II ordered an initial restoration between 1469–70. In the following century, Sixtus V included the sculptures in his urban renewal plans, overseeing their full restoration in 1585 and move to the sides of a marble basin as a dramatic backdrop for the main road from Porta Pia. Later, Pius VI in 1786 placed the statues in their current position beside the obelisk from the Mausoleum of Augustus, and in 1818 Pius VII replaced the original basin with a granite one from the Roman Forum.
The Quirinale in the Middle Ages
In the Middle Ages, the hill filled with churches, noble dwellings and towers, while ancient buildings fell into ruin and their marbles were repurposed for new construction. In the 15th and early 16th centuries, around the square and along the historic Alta Semita (now Via del Quirinale), noblemen and prelates built palaces and villas, such as Cardinal Oliviero Carafa, who owned a villa with vineyard where the Quirinal Palace stands today.
The Quirinale in the 16th Century
In 1550, the Carafa villa was rented by Cardinal Ippolito d’Este (also owner of Villa d’Este in Tivoli), who transformed the vineyard into an elaborate garden with fountains, water features, and ancient sculptures. The beauty of the cardinal’s villa convinced Pope Gregory XIII (1572–85) to expand it, assigning the new building to architect Ottaviano Mascarino. Between 1583 and 1585, Mascarino designed an elegant villa with a porticoed façade and rooftop loggia, connected internally by a splendid spiral staircase; his design also included the so-called “torrino“, the belvedere crowning the building.
After Gregory XIII’s death, his successor Sixtus V (1585–90) purchased the villa di Monte Cavallo from the Carafa family in 1587 as a summer residence for the popes. The villa did not suffice for papal needs, so Sixtus V commissioned architect Domenico Fontana to expand it with a new wing toward the piazza and another building along Via del Quirinale, enclosing a large inner courtyard.
Sixtus V also reorganized the piazza and ordered a new restoration of the Dioscuri statues, completed with a fountain. He died at the Quirinale, but further improvements to the palace continued under his successors. Clement VIII (1592–1605) was instrumental in enhancing the gardens, commissioning among other things the construction of the monumental Organ Fountain, decorated with mosaics, stuccoes, statues, and musical waterworks.
The Quirinale Today
The current appearance of the palace was finalized during the papacy of Pope Paul V Borghese (1605–21). Architect Flaminio Ponzio oversaw the construction of the garden wing, including the Grand Staircase, the Great Hall of the Consistory (today’s Salone delle Feste), and the Chapel of the Annunciation, frescoed by Guido Reni and his assistants.
