Palazzo dei Priori


Three centres of civic power in emerged in Perugia in the 13th century:

  • the Palazzo dei Consoli, which stood on the site of the present Palazzo Vescovile at the west end of what is now Piazza IV Novembre (see Walk I);

  • the adjacent Palazzo del Podestà; and

  • the Torre di Madonna Dialdana in Via della Gabbia (see below), which was rented for the use of the newly instituted Capitano del Popolo from 1255.  

When the tower proved to be inadequate for the Captain and his staff in the late 13th century, the decision was taken to build a new public palace, the  "Palatium Novum Populi".  This new building was to become the nucleus of what we now call the Palazzo dei Priori.

Original Building (1293-7)

The otherwise unknown Giacomo di Servadio and Giovanello di Benevento designed the original rectangular core of this palace, which comprised three bays in Piazza Grande and ten bays along what is now Corso Vannucci.  Each of the two main floors comprised a single room with trifore windows along two sides:

  • The room on the lower floor was originally the Sala del Consiglio, the room used for meetings of the Council that advised the Capitano del Popolo.   It later became the Sala dei Notai.

  • The room on the upper floor now forms the Sala Podiani of the Galleria Nazionale.

The ground floor loggia along Corso Vannucci was divided into units and rented out.  Two of these units (now 15-17 Corso Vannucci) were given to the Collegio della Mercanzia in 1390 in settlement of a debt.

Bronze statues (1274) of a griffin and a lion were placed above the entrance to the original Sala del Consiglio in 1301.  They have been replaced by copies; the originals are in Galleria Nazionale (Room 1). 




Expansion in the 14th Century

The Commune seems to have decided to extend the palace soon after its completion, and Pope Boniface VIII approved the transfer of the adjacent church of San Severo (in Piazza Grande) for the purpose in 1298.  However, San Severo belonged to the canons of San Lorenzo, and they were not immediately inclined to co-operate.  Expansion along Corso Vannucci seemed an easier prospect, and the Commune began acquiring the necessary properties there from 1300. 

Matters became pressing when the government of the Priori delle Arti was instituted in 1303.  The Priors initially occupied some of the recently-purchased houses in Corso Vannucci.  However, many of these burned down in 1315, and the decision was taken to rebuild from scratch.  Ambrogio Maitaniwas appointed as city architect in late 1317, and he probably supervised the project from that point.  The palace was extended first along Corso Vannucci and then in Piazza Grande to Via della Gabbia, and the Priors finally took up residence in the new rooms in ca. 1325 while the Capitano del Popolo continued to use the original core of the palace.

Original Palazzo dei Priori 

The palace was first extended by four bays along Corso Vannucci to reach Via dei Priori.  This new extension, which extended back as far as Via  della Gabbia, had
a huge atrium on the ground floor and an imposing staircase in the bay nearest to the original nucleus that led to the two floors above. 

The new Sala del Consiglio was located on the first floor, overlooking Corso Vannucci.  This was the site of the Priors' fateful decision in 1375 to release prisoners of war who later defeated the city, and it was subsequently known colloquially as the Sala del Malconsiglio.  It was used as the main Council Chamber of the Commune until the recent restoration, and housed [where they now ??] the following:

  • Petra Justitiae (Stone of Justice) (1234)

    This inscription was carved on a marble plaque from a Roman building to record the terms of a settlement that was reached between the nobles and the Popolo of Perugia after a long civil war.   It was originally set into the base of the campanile: copy has been set into the wall of the right transept of the Duomo, under the Loggia di Braccio, close to the original location.

  • Madonna and Child with angels (1486)

    This damaged fresco by Pinturicchio is in the lunette of the portal  that led to the Priors' dormitory (see below).  Pinturicchio must have returned briefly from Rome in order to make his contribution to what was probably largely a workshop production.

The back part of this space was originally used for the Priors' refectory and dormitory.  This space must also have accommodated the chapel used by the Priors and dedicated to St Louis of Toulouse that was documented in 1325.  This space now houses Rooms 34-7 of the Galleria  Nazionale.

The large room that occupied the whole of the top floor was known as the Sala Maggiore and provided the most prestigious space in the palace.  It now forms Room 1 of the Galleria Nazionale.

Extension to the Palazzo dei Priori

The Priors soon found that they needed more space, and the Commune bought the tower house on the other side of Via dei Priori from Cola di Benvenuto Servitori in ca. 1330.  This phase of the work ended in 1331, when the bell tower above was completed.   The bells were installed in 1339.

Work on a new chapel  on the top floor (behind the tower) was documented at this date.  Traces of its original decoration survives in what is now the first part of Room 4 of the Galleria Nazionale.

The clock was inserted in the wall above the entrance to Via dei Priori in 1857.

Portale dei Patroni (1340s)

  


This part of the palace was completed by the construction of a monumental entance to the atrium of the new palace, which breaks into two of the trifore windows of the Sala del Consiglio above. 

Ambrogio Maitani is usually credited with the design of the portal and with the statues of the patron saints of Perugia, SS Herculanus, Laurence and Louis of Toulouse in the lunette.  The present statues are copies of the originals, which are now in the Galleria Nazionale (Room 4).  Two lions support the side pilasters, while two griffins devouring cows sit at the ends of the architrave.  The latter are the symbols of the Arte dei Macellai (the butchers’ guild), which presumably financed the work.

Extension to the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo

The Commune finally took possession of San Severo in 1319.  (In return, it financed a new church that was probably built on the site of an earlier one dedicated to St Agatha, which became SS Severo e Agata).  The deconsecrated San Severo was rented out until 1333, when Ambrogio Maitani. turned his attention to the needs of the Capitano del Popolo.  He extended the original nucleus of the palace, incorporating San Severo, the Torre di Madonna Dialdana (behind it, in Via della Gabbia) and other adjacent buildings as far as the Palazzo dei Priori.  The combined palaces now assumed occupied the a rectangle that extended along Via della Gabbia to Via dei Priori.

The façade of the extended Palazzo del Capitano del Poppolo was probably complete by 1339, when payment for two of the capitals of the pillars used to support the loggia to the right was recorded.  These two columns are recognisable by the reliefs of griffins on them: the other two seem to be re-used from a Roman building, and might have come from the earlier portico of San Severo.  

The balcony above the loggia includes a pulpit that was used for proclamations.  The upper part was removed at some point and restored in the early 20th century.  The original staircase from the Piazza was probably rebuilt as part of this project in order to provide access additionally to the balcony.  





The room that opens onto the loggia was known as the Sala della Vaccara, a term of unknown derivation.  An inscription on its iron door denotes it as the Armarium Generale ("AG") or land registry.  The inscription also records the artisan who cast the door, Giulio Rufianello and the date 1338.   Note also the lovely female head carved above the entrance.  


Overview of the 14th Century Palaces

The picture below gives a good impression of the complex as it had evolved during the early part of the 14th century.

 
 Rear view of the complex showing (from the left):
  • the crenellated extension over San Severo and the Torre di Madonna Dialdana, which together formed an extension to the Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo; and
  • the rectangular core of the Palazzo dei Priori and the clock tower that was subsequently built above the tower house of Cola di Benvenuto Servitori.

Palazzo dei Priori in the Period 1375 - 1424

In 1373-5, the papal legate Girardo di Puy, the Abbot of Monmaggiore commandeered Palazzo dei Priori and built a fortified corridor that linked it to his new Fortezza di Porta Sole.  The building of this corridor disrupted the project to rebuild the Duomo, and resulted in the destruction of the original campanile.

The Priori delle Arti regained possession when the papal forces were expelled from the city in 1375.  They retained at least their nominal power and the use of their palace under the later lords of Perugia:

  • Biordo Michelotti (1393-8) continued to live in his family palace in what is now Piazza Biordo Michelotti (see Walk II); and

  • Braccio Fortebracci (1414-24) used the ex-Palazzo del Podestà as his residence.   Braccio did however abolish the office of Capitano del Popolo, and it was probably at this point that the whole palace became known as the Palazzo dei Priori.

Extension along Corso Vannucci (1429-43)

 
 Extension (1429-43), with the entrance to San Giovanni del Mercato on the left

As noted above, the Collegio della Mercanzia acquired premises in the Palazzo dei Priori in 1390 in settlement of a debt.   Braccio Fortebracci opened up membership of this guild and of the Collegio del Cambio to nobles when he assumed control of Perugia in 1414, providing this faction with an important route to government.  It was perhaps inevitable therefore that the Collegio del Cambio, which had premises opposite the Duomo, would seek to move physically closer to the centre of power.  This requirement and the growth in the bureaucracy of Perugia in the early 15th century necessitated further expansion along Corso Vannucci, which in turn required the purchase of properties beyond the tower house of Benvenuto di Cola dei Servitori from the Benedictine Abbazia di San Paolo di Valdiponte. 

The properties in question extended as far as the ancient church of San Giovanni del Mercato (which stood to the left in the illustration above).  Pope Paschal II had confirmed this church as a possession of the Abbazia di San Paolo di Valdiponte in 1110, and it had been recorded as a parish church in 1285.  The abbey had subsequently acquired the adjoining properties and leased to commercial enterprises. 

In 1429, the Commune effected what was, in effect, their compulsory purchase.  This marked the start of a long dispute about the appropriate level of compensation.  Pope Eugene IV intervened in 1441 in favour of the Commune, and demanded that Abbot Angelo Felice maintain perpetual silence on the matter.  This did not stop him from continuing to demand compensation throughout the remainder of his tenure, which ended in 1445.  San Giovanni del Mercato remained in the ownership of the Abbazia di San Paolo di Valdiponte even after it was incorporated into the fabric of the Palazzo dei Priori.

The acrimonious dispute was probably the main reason for the long duration of the project, which was completed only in 1443.  The Collegio del Cambio moved in to part of the new extension, which subsumed the ancient church.  This extension was executed in an anachronistic style that preserved the harmony of the integrated structure of the palace.  In ca. 1450, a room at the back on the top floor was adapted as the new Cappella dei Priori (now Room 21 of the Galleria Nazionale).

The Collegio del Cambio began a three-storey building to the left of the new extension ( between San Giovanni del Mercato and Via Boncambi) in 1452.  The external staircase immediately on the right in Via Boncambi led to the upper storeys.  This building had been completed by 1473, when the document commissioning the Palazzzo del Capitano del Popolo specified that the windows of the palace should be based on those of the Collegio del Cambio.  (The original windows of the palace survive, but those of the college were subsequently replaced.)  The Collegio del Cambio acquired San Giovanni del Mercato itself in 1507 and incorporated it into its premises.


The Palazzo dei Priori was extended over the Collegio del Cambio at an unknown date after 1473.  The new space now accommodates Rooms 5 and 6 of the Galleria Nazionale.  Steps on the right in Via Boncambi behind the Collegio del Cambio lead down to an inner courtyard of the palace that formed part of the extension of 1429-43. 


The tripartite relief on the left at the top of these steps contains:

  • the arms and bishop's mitre of Bartolomeo di Cuzio;
  • the double cross that records his position as prior of the Canons of the Holy Sepulchre; and
  • an inscription that records a program of work that he commissioned in 1363, which probably involved the construction or renovation of the hospice at Santa Croce.

After the Salt War (1540)

The power of the Priors declined further in the early 16th century, when Perugia passed to direct papal rule, but it was only after the ex-Palazzo del Podestà burned down in 1534 that the papal governors moved to the Palazzo dei Priori while the new legatine palace in Rocca Paolina was in construction.  The papal governors acquired the houses further along Corso Vannucci and built above them.

  • The loggia behind the rooms over the Collegio del Cambio(now Room 19 of the Galleria Nazionale) is attributed to Galeazzo Alessi, who arrived in his native Perugia in 1542 the train of the new papal legate, Ascanio Parisani (1542-5) and remained to work for his successor, Tiberio Crispo (1545-8).

  • Cardinal Tiberio Crispo commissioned the frescoes (1547-8) of the Sala della Congregazione Governativa per la State from Tommaso Bernabei (il Papacello) and Lattanzio Pagani.  This room is now Room 18 of the Galleria Nazionale.

  • The loggia in the top storey to the left of the Collegio del Cambio (now Rooms 7 and 10 of the Galleria Nazionale) is attributed to Galeazzo Alessi, and probably dates to 1571-2, when he returned to Perugia just before his death.




  • The plaque below this loggia commemorates the fact that Prospero Podiani donated his substantial library to the Commune in 1582.  This collection was housed for a period in the palace, necessitating the last phase of expansion under Valentino Martelli, following the acquisition of the house of Ottaviano Boncambi, so that the palace now extended to the no longer visible Via dei Pentolini, a narrow street that marked the boundary between the Rione di Porta Eburnea and the Rione di Porta Santa Susanna.

Later History

The Lippi family built the palace next to the Palazzo dei Priori beyond Via dei Pentolini in the 17th century (see Walk I).  The street was vaulted in 1790 to support three storeys: the lowest was added to Palazzo Lippi and the upper two to the apartments of the papal governors in Palazzo dei Priori.  The area under the vaults was subsequently incorporated into Palazzo Lippi.

An inscription below the one mentioned above records that the result of the plebiscite of 4th November 1860 was announced from the palace.  The people of Umbria voted by 97,040 to 380 to join the new kingdom of Italy under King Vittore Emanuele II .

The Palazzo dei Priori underwent a long and difficult restoration in 1862-1936 that restored it to something like its original appearance.

See the pages on the Galleria Nazionale for a description of the interior of the upper floors of the palace.

Return to Walk I.