Rome's Quirinal palace - Napoleon's broken dream

T TV Wednesday 29/November/2017 13:48 PM
By: Times News Service

Home to Popes, kings and presidents, the Quirinal palace boasts an impressive list of prior residents. But missing from this list is the man behind its spectacular redesign and who hoped to make it the centre of his empire - Napoleon.
SOUNDBITE 1 - Louis Godart, Cultural Adviser to the Italian President:
"We are entering the rooms where we can follow the broken dream of the emperor. And which emperor? Napoleon! Between 1812 and 1814, Napoleon had decided to do great work to the Palace of Quirinal because he wanted to make it the imperial palace par excellence. His dream was to recreate Caesars' empire."
Louis Godart, Cultural Adviser to the Italian President: "Napoleon was literally obsessed with Antiquity and Roman Antiquity in particular. He identified with Caesar's great dynasty and this is the reason why illustrations show a Napoleon totally integrated into the classical world."