The new Palace of Fine Arts is on the right, about half-way down. In
it is held an annual exhibition of modern works of art of every
description. Admission, one lira; Sundays, fifty centesimi. It
occupies a space of 22,030 square mètres--the permanent building being
5,280 square mètres; the Crystal Hall, 1,250 square mètres; the
gardens, 5,000 square mètres; and the temporary galleries, 10,500
square mètres. The palace comprises two floors, and may be entered
from the Via Nazionale, Via Genova, and Via del Quirinale. The main
front is 25 mètres high and 60 long. Sixteen statues decorate the top
of the façade, the work of Roman artists.
On the top of the pediment is a group, Italy crowning Art, by
Adalberto Cencetti, the groups in relief on the face being the Finding
of the Laocoon Group, by Filippo Ferrari, and Carrying Cimabue's
Madonna in Triumph, by Puntoni.
Signor Pio Piacentini designed the edifice; and the works have been
carried out with the assistance of the architect Augusto Fallani, at a
cost of two and a half million lire.