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The Sala dei Cento Giorni ("Room of 100 Days") is the largest reception room, the Salone d'Onore on the piano nobile, of the Palazzo della Cancelleria or Chancellery in Central Rome, Italy. The frescoes by Giorgio Vasari and his studio in 1547, epitomize the Mannerist style. Supposedly they were completed in a hundred days.
In March 1546, Cardinal Alessandro Farnese (1520–1589), at the suggestion of Paolo Giovio, commissions Vasari to paint a fresco a hall of the chancery in the Palazzo of San Giorgio, which was remodeled and rebuilt as the massive Palazzo della Cancelleria. The purpose of the frescoes was to celebrate the life of Pope Paul III, Alessandro's grandfather. In his biography of Artists (Vite), Vasari details the planning, commission and execution of this work.
Legend has it that Michelangelo, known for his plodding meticulous style, was shown the work and Vasari bragged about the rapid execution, Michelangelo is reputed to have tartly replied: si vede! ("it shows!"). The work even in its day was not admired for its quality. Paolo Giovio reports to Cardinal Farnese that the portraits displeased him. Today, the condition of the frescoes is mediocre, even though they were restored several times after a 1940 fire.