The Italian Room's architectural style is an early Tuscan Renaissance style, owing its austerity to ecclesiastical architecture. The ceiling is a copy of San Domenico in Pesaro, for example. The student seating is reminiscent of church pews, while the two guest chairs are modelled on Savanarola chairs in Florence.
Throughout the woodwork there are the names of prominent Italian men in history, across the fields of art, exploration, science and music among others. The portrait in the rear wall, added in 1948, commemorates the first European woman to earn a University degree, Helena Lucrezia Cornaro Piscopia.
