Palazzo Ducale di Modena

Begun in 1634 to designs by Roman architect Bartolomeo Avanzini, Modena's Ducal Palace housed the Este court for more than two centuries and later became the seat of Italy's Military Academy. Its Baroque rooms include the Golden Salon, State Apartment and Academy Museum, which honours fallen cadets.

Why it matters

Every great Italian duchy built itself a palace, but few got to keep using theirs so nobly. On Piazza Roma, the vast block designed by Bartolomeo Avanzini rose from 1634 as the seat of the Este court, and for over two hundred years the dukes ruled Modena from these rooms. The building houses the Italian Army's Military Academy, which returned permanently to the palace in the mid-twentieth century. The continued institutional use preserves the Baroque residence as a working complex rather than a museum.

What to notice

The Main Courtyard has a two-storey colonnade considered a masterpiece of Baroque architecture; a monumental staircase lined with Roman statues leads to the loggia serving the three principal apartments. The State Apartment includes frescoes and Este family portraits, the Galleria dei Bronzi, Sala Colleoni, the green room and red bedroom, and Sala del Trono. Other rooms include the Grand Ballroom, Salone d'Onore, eighteenth-century Golden Salon and Stringa Room.

The Private Apartment, once the Duke's, now houses the Academy Museum. Its rooms include the Galleria della Memoria, Sala delle Accademie, Sala dei Comandanti, Sala degli Allievi Illustri and Tempio della Gloria. The Camera d'Oro preserves portraits of about five hundred officers awarded the gold medal for valour. Collections include weapons, armour, uniforms, flags, drums and memorials to cadets fallen from the Risorgimento wars through the twentieth century, alongside two historic tricolours, including the standard given in 1849 by Carlo Alberto.

Context and history

The palace replaced the older Este residence and announced ducal magnificence on a Roman scale, its facade of balanced windows crowned by balustrades and statues. When the Este line ended, the building passed to military use and has housed the academy — renamed Accademia Militare with the Republic — since 1862, as the Ministry of Culture's inventory records. In 1950 the first President of the Republic, Enrico De Nicola, granted the institute its heraldic coat with the motto "Una acies", one single line of battle. The palace also contains the Academy's war memorial, the Sacrario. The complex includes the Court of Honour, Parlatorio and Scalone d'Onore; its institutional use shapes how the historic rooms are maintained.