Among the buildings that were erected by Italians, the present seat of the Italian Embassy in Cairo look like one of the most genuine buildings in Garden City .The story of the previous seats between the end of the18th century and the beginning of the 1920s is rather complex, but nevertheless interesting.

Between 1884 and 1908, the Italian Legation was hosted in a very prestigious mansion in Orientalist style.It had been designed by the French architect Ambroise Baudry.

(1838 - 1906). The elegant building was erected in Cairo in 1872 in the exclusive Ismailiyya district, as part of the urbanisation program influenced by the work of George Eugène Haussmann and prompted by Khedive Ismail (1830 -1895).

In the beginning, it was the residence of its originator,Baron Alphonse Marie Leopold Delort de Gléon the aristocratic engineer and passionate art collector who arrived to Cairo in

1869 and stayed until1883 to follow the business activity of his wealthy uncle.The stay in that location ended in the first decade of the 20th century, when the Italian Legation migrated to subsequent temporary seat.In 1920 and until 1922, the diplomatic seat in Cairo entrusted to the Plenipotentiary Minister Lazzaro Negrotto Cambiaso moved to a property owned by the notable Ahmed bey Chafik. Count Luigi Aldrovandi Marescotti (1876 - 1945), Head of Cabinet of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1914 -1918) and deputy of Sidney Sonnino, Minister of Foreign Affairs (1914 - 1919), arrived in Cairo inMarch 1923, taking over from the Marquis Lazzaro

Negrotto Cambiaso (1916 - 1922), who had held the Cairo diplomatic seat for over six years (1916 - 1922).

When the new Head of Mission arrived, the seat were found to be bare after the exit of his predecessor. Upon his arrival, Aldrovandi noted the inadequacy of the diplomatic seat mainly due to its modest size and to a distribution of the rooms not entirely suited to the official commitments of the High Representatives.

The most immediate solution was renting an adequately dignified

building. Count Caccia Dominioni and the Egyptian Government, represented by the Counsellor to the Court of Appeal of the Mixed Courts, H. E. Mahmoud Bey El-Toayar, a

notable Alexandrian who owned property at 130, Qasr El-Ainy St. in the elegant Cairo neighborhood of Garden City, signed the lease contract for new temporary premises, since the old ones had been released back to the owners. The stately building, on two suitably furnished.

floors and equipped with a beautiful garden with a garage, consisted of the ceremonial rooms, the living quarters of the Minister Plenipotentiary, the Chancery premises. The rooms were well divided and airy.

The complex analysis of the real estate market and the financial evaluation, together with the

need to develop an organic project for the seat of the Italian Delegation in Cairo, were the elements that determined the choice of opting for an architectural work at, in Garden City. The company that won the contract had an excellent reputation. It was the construction company founded by Ernesto De Farro (1875 - 1941). who had arrived in Cairo in 1898, had honed his skills by serving in the office of the Ministry of Public Works (1898 - 1900) and, later, he became assistant to the chief engineer of the construction of the Aswan Dam.

The engineer Caccia Dominioni supervised the works with diligence from 1928 to 1931, until the delivery of the building site of the Italian Legation in Cairo.

The plans were presented by architect Florestano di Fausto architect for the Ministry of foreign affairs. The architect was fully aware of the scenic nature of the site and accepted the intriguing challenge of inserting the building into it. The silhouette of the building had to stand out against that background full of history, without being overshadowed. It was on that scenic backdrop that the designer projected the sober and elegant spectacle of modern Italian style. The building enjoyed two privileged views: one over the Nile, the other towards the city.