Italian Embassy in London
The Italian Embassy in London is Italy's diplomatic mission in the United Kingdom .
location
The embassy is located in Grosvenor Square in the Mayfair borough of the City of Westminster , London . Although located in Grosvenor Square, the main entrance to the embassy is on Three Kings Yard , a cul-de-sac off Davies Street . Some organizational units of the embassy are outsourced: the consular department is located in Farringdon, the cultural department in Belgrave Square , the defense attaché and his department are also located in Belgravia , the finance and trade departments are located in the City of London .
history
The Savoy , who appointed the kings of Italy from 1861, first sent diplomatic representatives to London in the mid-16th century. Today's Italian embassy arose from their embassy .
In 1625 the estate, which today houses the Italian embassy, came into the possession of the businessman Hugh Audley. After the death of his wife Mary Davies, who had married Sir Thomas Grosvenor for the second time, the estate passed to her son Sir Richard Grosvenor, who began building a square and several buildings in 1721 with the intention of making one of the most distinguished districts of London to accomplish. The east side of Grosvenor Square, where the embassy is today, was originally designed in the Palladian style by Scottish architect Colen Campbell , but it was never realized. From 1725 to 1735, the then seven buildings on the east side were built under John Simmons, including house number 4 (the embassy) as the central structure at the time. Since no buyers could be found, a lottery was held in 1739, which the Earl of Effingham, Colonel Francis Howard, won. In the further course there were several changes of ownership and renovations. The famous residents of the house from 1751 to 1782 included the Prime Minister Charles Watson-Wentworth, 2nd Marquess of Rockingham , then his nephew William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam , who invested considerable sums in the expansion of the house over the next 50 years. His descendants renovated the property in 1872 and 1902, and it was also expanded towards the Three Kings Yard. The embassy office is now located in this extension. In 1932 the property came to Hugh Grosvenor, 2nd Duke of Westminster , who in the same year left it to the Italian state for usufruct for 200 years .
The neighboring buildings were redesigned from 1936. In the adjacent building to the south was the American Embassy from 1938 to 1961 , which then moved to another building on Grosvenor Square, from 1961 to 2013 parts of the Canadian High Commission .
See also
Web links
- Official websites
- Ministero degli affari esteri, Archivio storico: La legazione sarda in Londra (1730-1860)
Coordinates: 51 ° 30 '42.3 " N , 0 ° 8' 58.9" W.