The Arsenal Palace

In 1736 CARLO EMANUELE III commissioned the designer and architect Felice De Vincenti, Captain of Artillery and later 'Grand Master of Artillery', to design and build the Arsenal Palace.
De Vincenti personally supervised the construction work, which was carried out mainly by members of the Royal Artillery Corps. The work took several years to complete and by 1752 the palace housed the Arsenal Palace and the 'Royal Theoretical and Practical Schools of Artillery and Fortification'. The complex thus served the dual purpose of an arms factory and a military college for officers.
The typical features of an arsenal can still be seen today: large underground passages connected to the surface by wide ramps that could be used by bulky wagons, strong columns standing close together to support heavy loads and large rooms with vaulted ceilings.
The current corner façade, between via Arsenale and via Arcivescovado, the main entrance to the palace, was built in 1890 by Captain Emilio Marrullier of the Engineer Corps, who modified De Vincenti's original design.
Two statues symbolising the artillery and the engineering corps stand on the columns on either side of the entrance. On the portal, a plaque recalls the purpose of the building: "This Arsenal of War, designed by Felice De Vincenti, was built during the reign of CARLO EMANUELE III, when Piedmont's military power was growing. The construction of the Arsenal Palace was carried out in the "new Italian era" under the reign of UMBERTO I, and it was intended to be used as a military defence, garrison, school and workshop".

Architectural features

Wide banded pilasters, surmounted by two twin structures of a size and design more akin to two robust corbels than two capitals, mark the layout of the ground floor. The width of the pilasters and their connection to the two overhanging structures, as well as their banded design, are in keeping with the wide basement, which is decorated with bossed stonework. Two banded Doric pilasters outline the upper floor, which rises on the cornice of the ground floor. The main floor has a series of rectangular windows between the two pilasters. The rectangular windows are surmounted by additional square windows, which light both this floor and the mezzanine. Surmounted by a high entablature decorated with triglyphs, the upper windows have no frames and act as a kind of backdrop to the architectural elements described above. The cornice crowns the lower parts of the building. On the façade, slightly protruding elements extend to another floor, lit by square windows and framed by wide bands.
The courtyard is more imposing than the exterior and is surrounded by a large portico with vaulted ceilings that support wide terraces. The central part of each side is marked by four fourstorey avant-corpses that protrude 40 cm from the edge of the portico. The wider arcades of the portico frame the rounded corners of the courtyard. Above the terrace, the four-storey body of the building has the same architectural features, made more impressive by its elegant angular shape.
In the centre of the upper part of the pilasters, and over their entire height, there is an imposing semi-circular niche closed by a deeply grooved semi-dome: a refined and elegant architectural 2 solution. In the corner opposite the main entrance, on top of the above structure, there is a Baroque tower (the clock tower). The turret has original dormer windows and blends harmoniously into the varied layout of the roofs.
Despite the fact that three of the four sections of the terrace have been fitted with double glazing on one floor, the arsenal courtyard is in an excellent state of preservation.
The pitch of the roof, the roof terrace, the dormers, the acroteria on a curved pediment covered with stucco and the pattern of torches and chimneys are recurring features in this architectural composition. The resulting effect is comparable to a pleasantly transgressive 'allegro con brio' piece against this imposing structure, which instead conveys the notion of peace. In the design of the portico, a decorative pattern formed by a cannon-shaped drip inserted at the intersection of the capitals stands out from the ensemble. The most striking feature of the Arsenal Palace, however, is its structural framework. Because of its special use, the weight of the mechanical installations it supports, and the high stresses caused by the moving machinery and the resulting vibrations throughout the building, the palace had to be extremely strong and resistant.
These technical requirements were met by means of a vaulted structure supported by rectangular columns on the 6.20m x 5.60m main module of the building and on the 6.20m x 6.80m and 6.20m x 7.20m modules. The architect used these architectural proportions for the arcades of the portico under the terraces and for the structures of the projecting bodies.
In the large basements, the vaults under the portico, which are relatively small compared to the thickness of the masonry, are a particularly effective construction strategy.
However, as far as the upper floors are concerned, the size of the building becomes progressively smaller in order to comply with a canon closer to Guarini's architecture. A constructive solution that seems to anticipate Alessandro Antonelli's use of pillared structures.
De Vincenti returned the body of the building to a square shape (4.50 m free span on the ground floor and slightly more on the main floor) by doubling the arched ribs in one direction.
In this way, the ground floor of the building is both imposing and impressive, with its enfilade of vaults defined by strong ribs, and the much more spacious and elegant layout of the first floor, where the roof consists of a series of domes with circular or elliptical bases.
To fully grasp the spirit of the architecture of the Arsenal Palace, it is important to remember that De Vincenti was working at a time when a real separation between art and science was beginning to emerge, and indeed science was beginning to prevail. De Vincenti seemed to derive his canons of architectural design from an abstract logical model, a mathematical model, perhaps thanks to his qualities as a military architect and the scientific background that characterised his training. His approach was therefore not that of an artist who saw this model as a "programme", but rather that of a scientist who saw it as a "canon" to be followed at all times.
The double-branched staircase undoubtedly refers to Guarini's architecture, recalling the solution of the staircase in the Chapel of the Holy Shroud or in the Carignano Palace.
​ However, in comparison with these structures, De Vincenti's design of the staircase privileges functional requirements and, in general, rigorously applies structural rules. As a result, the staircase has a comfortable width and conveys a reassuring sense of solidity.