G8 Labour Ministers' Meeting - G8 Social Summit
The Labour Ministers’ Meeting was held at the Farnesina, headquarters of the Foreign Ministry. The building owes its name to the area in which it is located, the “Farnesina Gardens,” which were owned by Paolo Farnese III.
The building presents all the features typical of twenties and thirties Italian architecture: monumentality, mass, rhythmical lines and symmetry. The decision to have it house the Foreign Ministry, now known worldwide as “the Farnesina,” was not taken until 1940, when the building work was already under way.
With over 1,300 rooms, nine floors and a façade 169 m long and 51 m tall, the Farnesina vies with the Caserta Palace for the title of Italy’s largest building. Since 2000, the Farnesina has been home to a fine collection of Italian contemporary art comprising over 200 works of painting, sculpture and mosaic work and installations.
*Source: Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
