Rome - Piazza del Quirinale

The square in front of the Quirinal Palace, residence of the President of Italy, is one of the most beautiful in Rome, offering a panoramic view of the city extending west to St Peter's. In the center of the square is the famous Dioscuri Fountain, with the 14m/46ft high obelisk which formerly stood at the entrance to the Mausoleum of Augustus and the 5.6m/18ft high figures of the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux as horse-tamers) from the nearby Baths of Constantine. Opposite the Quirinal Palace is the sumptuously decorated Palazzo della Consulata, built by Ferdinando Fuga in 1734 for Pope Clement XII to house the Papal court, the Tribunale della Sacra Consulta. The palace is now occupied by the Corte Costituzionale, the Italian supreme court.