The Sala Araba/Arabic hall or Sala Moresca/Moor hall was achieved by Pacifico Sidoli in engraved wood and shows on the ceiling a purely decorative Arabic inscription, running around a central medallion of arabesque plants and intricate geometric forms inspired by the Spanish-moorish style.
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These motifs are freely combined according to the typical decorative style of those times, codified in true and proper repertoires of ornamental design, like the famed The Grammar of Ornament of Owen Jones, published in 1856.
A succession of medallions with golden cornices run around the ceiling, while the module of the mixtilinear cornice varies in a series of elegant floral compositions. The mirrors, with golden cornices, repeat the mix of arabesque elements, softened with floral branches, an omnipresent motif in the entire room. The same combinations are found, in fact, also on the white fireplace, where the external bands are spirals of flowers and leaves while the internal part constitutes the exaltation of a miniature architecture. Here, two columns sustain an Islamic arch, thickly decorated.
This room, also called “Hall of the floral hearth”, was once dedicated to women’s recreation, as underlined by the delicate floral motifs, even if they did not disregard using it for other purposes, especially in the first decades of the 20th century. In this hall for example, private meetings were held by Tommaso Tittoni with visiting delegations when he covered the role of Foreign Affairs Minister, and it was precisely in this room that the decision to create the protectorate of Albania was made, in the scope of operations on the Balkan front during WWI. It was also here that the historic decision was made to send, starting from 1914, an Italian military expedition against the Austro-Hungarian troops and to control the African territory.
