Collegio del Cambio
The Collegio del Cambio (guild of moneychangers) was the second most important guild of Perugia (after the Collegio della Mercanzia). It is first documented in 1259, when it was given responsibility for the running of the zecca (mint). It soon acquired other responsibilities in the area of public finance and in the administration of justice in financial disputes.
The two guilds had special privileges in relation to the election of the ten members of the Priori delle Arti that governed Perugia from 1303:
- the Collegio della Mercanzia provided two permanent members from the inception of this form of government; and
- the Collegio del Cambio provided one permanent member from 1385.
The guilds both administered charitable institutions:
- the Collegio della Mercanzia administered the Ospedale di Sant’ Egidio, a hospice for the poor in what is now Corso Garibaldi; and
- from 1399, the Collegio del Cambio owned the tiny church of San Giacomo at Porta San Pietro and the nearby Ospedale di San Giacomo (see Walk IV), both of which ministered to pilgrims.
Both guilds met originally in Santa Maria del Mercato (later Santa Maria del Popolo). However, the Collegio del Cambio had its own building near the Duomo on the site now occupied by the Palazzo Conestabile della Staffa (see Walk I) by 1361. The Collegio della Mercanzia acquired premises in the Palazzo dei Priori in 1390 and it was perhaps inevitable that the Collegio del Cambio would seek to emulate it.
The Collegio del Cambio duly moved to the new extension of the Palazzo dei Priori soon after its completion in 1443. It embarked on the construction of new premises on the adjacent site (between San Giovanni del Mercato and Via
Boncambi) in 1452. These had been completed by 1473, when the document
commissioning the Palazzzo del Capitano del Popolo
specified that its windows 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 as the Cappella di San Giovanni Battista (see below). (Perhaps in response, the Collegio della Mercanzia acquired the Cappella di San Bernardino in the Duomo in 1515.)
The Collegio del Cambio transferred the Sala d’ Ingressa to the Collegio dei Legisti (lawyers’ guild) in 1613, at which point it became known as the Sala dei Legisti.
Façade
The facade has three fine portals;
The main portal (1454) leads to the Sala dell' Udienza. The smaller portal to the left, which leads to the Sala d’ Ingressa, has the arms of the guild, a griffin on a money chest, to the right of it.
A matching small portal to the right, in the facade of the Palazzo dei Priori, has a dedication to St John the Baptist on the lintel because it belongs to the Cappella di San Giovanni Battista.
Each of the next two storeys (before 1473) has three windows, with the arms of the guild above. The top storey, which is part of the Palazzo dei Priori, was added in the late 16th century.
Sala dei Legisti
The Collegio dei Legisti commissioned the wooden paneling of this room in 1615-21.
Sala dell’ Udienza
The wooden panelling (1490-93) in this room is by Domenico del Tasso and Antonio da Mercatello. The extensive fresco cycle (1496-1500) is the masterpiece of Perugino. According to Giorgio Vasari, his main assistant was Andrea d' Assisi (called l' Ingegno).
The vaults depict personifications of the signs of the zodiac in tondi against highly patterned backgrounds. At the centre, a team of four horses pulls Apollo's chariot across the sky.
The side walls contain frescoes of allegories of civic virtues using humanist iconography that seems to have been the work of Francesco Maturanzio, the secretary to the Priori delle Arti.
The back wall contains two more conventional scenes:
the Nativity (on the right); and
the Transfiguration (on the left).
A frescoed self-portrait of Perugino appears as a panel hung from the left wall. The inscription by Francesco Maturanzio praises the artist: "If the art of painting was lost, he rediscovered it. If it was not yet invented, he brought it to this point".
For further illustrations, see the Web Gallery of Art
Cappella di San Giovanni Battista
Pope Paschal II granted the ancient church of San Giovanni del Mercato to the Benedictine Abbazia di San Paolo di Valdiponte in 1110. It was documented as a parish church in 1285. It remained in the ownership of the abbey even after 1443, when it was incorporated into the fabric of the Palazzo dei Priori. Fra Wintherius (Winterio), who brought the Virgin's wedding ring (which is now in the Cappella di Sant' Anello of the Duomo) to Perugia in 1473, acted as rector of San Giovanni del Mercato until his death in 1506.
The guild finally acquired the old church at this point, and it was adapted to its current purpose in in 1506-9. The stone altar from the church survives in situ behind an altar frontal (1512) by Mariano di ser Austerio that depicts St John the Baptist .
Giannicola di Paolo executed the frescoes on the walls and the altar panels. The commission was protracted and involved a series of disputes between the guild and the artist.
The frescoes depict:
God the Father. with the Evangelists, the Apostles and the Doctors of the Church (1511-5) in the vaults; and
scenes from the life of St John the Baptist (1515-28) on the walls.
Return to Walk I.