The Deti Gallery

The ‘Galleria Deti’ [‘Deti Gallery’] is now the office of the President of the Council of Ministers. This richly decorated room, with its stuccos, gilding, paintings, friezes and cornices, is one of the most magnificent in the palace.

The Deti Gallery is the last room of the original Aldobrandini-Deti apartment, although is completely different from the ‘Deti Antechamber’ and ‘Yellow Sitting Room’ in terms of both its architectural structure and decorations. The richly gilded vaulted ceiling, frescoed by Flaminio Allegrini, depicts biblical characters representing sin and the redemption of mankind. 

Three scenes from Genesis appear in the centre of the ceiling: the ‘Original Sin’, the ‘Creation of Eve’ and the ‘Expulsion from the Garden of Eden’. Cardinal Deti’s emblem, the crescent moon, can be seen in each corner, framing the rake and stars of the Aldobrandini family heraldry.

This room looks out over a small loggia at the corner of Palazzo Chigi between Via del Corso and Piazza Colonna, made famous by the numerous protests held underneath it over the course of its history. For example, when the palace was home to the Austrian embassy at the beginning of the 20th century, protests for Trento and Trieste were held in front of this corner of the building. In 1925, the balcony windows were the target of Tito Zaniboni’s failed attempt to assassinate Mussolini, who used the Deti Gallery as his office until 1931.