View of the Piffetti LibraryQuirinale Palace
The Piffetti Library (Biblioteca del Piffetti) is one of the most appealing rooms in the Quirinal Palace.
The wooden structure dates back to the first half of the 1700s, when it was first used as a small study in the Villa della Regina palace in Turin. It was transferred to Rome at the command of Queen Margherita who, in 1879, had it adapted into the library of her apartment.
View of the ceiling in the Piffetti Library (1879)Quirinale Palace
The addition of the ceiling
The installation of the small library in Rome led to the addition of the ceiling, especially made to allow the sumptuous wooden structure to be adapted to the queen's apartment.
View of the Piffetti LibraryQuirinale Palace
Pietro Piffetti's masterpiece
The creator of this masterpiece is Pietro Piffetti who was one of the greatest cabinetmakers of the era, mainly employed in the service of the Savoy court.
The library's internal structure is made of poplar and is covered with various types of wood, made with rare woods, including rosewood, olive, boxwood, and yew.
The whole structure is embellished with elegant ivory inlays, which expertly and naturistically reproduce floral designs.
Detail of the decoration in the Piffetti Library by Pietro PiffettiQuirinale Palace
The decorations were made using pyrography: a technique where a design is created using the incandescent tip of a pen to follow an outline made or traced previously.
The lower part of the bookcase has a plinth decorated with inlaid pilasters (rectangular columns), alternating with monochrome erotic paintings in blue on a white background.
Consolle by Pietro PiffettiQuirinale Palace
Two small consoles lean against the plinth. Their tops are embellished with soft garlands of carved and gilt flowers.
The shelves are covered with tortoiseshell and engraved ivory slabs.
The slabs are designed to look like sheets and prints resting on top, as if they have been accidentally left on the consoles.
The ivory sheets feature various subjects and themes.
Some of them show war scenes.
Others reproduce scenes of rural life.
On some sheets, there are also maps, such as the map of the Siege of Pizzighettone.
This pretence is completed by the presence of some tools on the shelves, such as a compass that seems to have been left on top of one of the sheets.
Detail of the Consolle by Pietro PiffettiQuirinale Palace
There is also a bronze set square, which appears to have been left on the shelf.
Detail of the console shelf with the signature of Pietro Piffetti by Pietro PiffettiQuirinale Palace
Pietro Piffetti's signature
But the most curious detail is certainly on the sheet depicting the map of the Siege of Pizzighettone. Because Pietro Piffetti has engraved his signature.
View of the Piffetti LibraryQuirinale Palace
Shelves with Savoy books
The upper part of the structure spreads across three walls and contains shelves in a rosewood veneer.
The books kept in the library largely date back to the end of the 19th century and many have bindings embossed with the Savoy coat of arms. Some contain dedications and symbols referring to Queen Margherita.
Detail of the decoration in the Piffetti Library by Pietro PiffettiQuirinale Palace
The walls are connected to each other by concave shelves that rest on niches. Inside the niches, royal emblems are inlaid, tied together by the Savoy ribbon.
Bust of the Four Seasons with VasesQuirinale Palace
The walls are crowned by eight decorated majolica vases on a white background, produced in the Rossetti brothers' factory in Pinerolo.
The vases are placed in pairs on elegant carved wooden supports. In the center of each pair is a gilded wood sculpture depicting one of the seasons.
View of the Sala della MusicaQuirinale Palace
Leaving the Library, you enter the Music Room. Together with the neighboring rooms, it is dedicated to the exaltation of the figure of Napoleon.
