Rome - Parliament

(Local Name: Camera dei Deputati) The Palazzo Montecitorio, begun by Bernini in 1650 for Pope Innocent X Pamphili and completed in 1694 by Carlo Fontana, has been occupied since 1871 by the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the Italian Parliament. At the beginning of this century the palace was enlarge to meet Parliamentary needs. In the Piazza di Montecitorio is an ancient Egyptian obelisk (594-589 B.C.). Here German archaeologists excavated what is claimed to be the largest sundial in the world, dating from the second century A.D., of which the obelisk was the gnomon. The great bronze base of the sundial, 60m/200ft in diameter, was brought to light behind the Chamber of Deputies at a depth of 6.5m/20ft below the present street level. Below it is the still more famous sundial of Augustus.