Quirinal Palace

This guide to the Quirinal Palace in Rome opens on the night of July 5, 1809, when French soldiers entered the palace and took Pope Pius VII from his private chambers on Napoleon's orders. It follows the pope's years of captivity in France, and traces the palace's long line of occupants, from the popes who built it as a retreat from Rome's summer heat to the Italian kings who moved in after 1870. Look at the palace's long pale facade as you approach from the piazza.