Palazzo della Penna (16th century)

The Vibi family (who claimed descent from the Emperor Gaius Vibius Trebonianus Gallus (251-3 AD)) built this palace against a stretch of wall that was probably built in the 13th century as the city began to expand towards what became Porta San Pietro.   There was a long-standing tradition that the palace stood on the site of the Roman amphitheatre, and excavations in 1980 proved that this is indeed the case.

The Vibi family was united by marriage with that of the Arcipreti della Penna in the late 16th century, and the palace seems to have become known as Palazzo della Penna early in the 18th century.  Fabrizio della Penna re-modeled it in the period 1812-20 following his marriage to Tederlinda Cesarei.  He also commissioned the frescoes (1812) of the Myth of Paris from Antonio Castelletti for the piano nobile.  He formed a close friendship with the French artist Jean-Baptiste Wicar in the 1820s, and this inspired him to build up the family's already outstanding art collection.  Unfortunately, both the palace and its art collection had to be sold in 1874. 

The palace has been recently adapted as an art gallery.  Much of the exhibition space is below ground level, and a transparent dome in the entrance courtyard allows you to see the  spiral staircase made up of circular steps that leads down to it.  

Ground Floor

Works from the Accademia di Belle Arti

The premises of the academy at San Francesco al Prato have been unusable since the 1997 earthquake.  The works from its collection that are temporarily housed here span the period from Neoclassicism to the Belle Epoque, and include:

  • the “Three Graces” (1820) by Antonio Canova; and

  • a number of broadly contemporary works by Jean-Baptiste Wicar.

Works by Gerardo Dottori

The museum hosts the collection of works by the Perugian artist Gerardo Dottori (1888-1977), many of which he gave to the Commune in 1957.  details of the collection are given in the website of the Comune di Perugia.  The works include a self-portrait (1928).  Exhibited near it is a bronze bust (1966) of the artist by Bruno Arzilli.

First Floor below Ground Level

The excavations here reveal part of the the Roman amphitheatre and a Roman road.

Martinelli Collection

Works from the collection of the Perugian art historian Valentino Martinelli (1923-1999) are exhibited here.

  • Room I, which is dedicated to Gian Lorenzo Bernini, includes his magnificent terracotta model of Cristo Ligato (the bound Christ) and a model for a sculpture of a damned soul that is attributed to him.

  • Room II, which is dedicated to Bernini's patrons, includes portraits of Pope Urban VIII and Pope Innocent X and a model for a bust of Pope Clement X.

  • Room III, which is devoted to Bernini’s work in Rome, includes a terracotta model of an equestrian monument to King Louis XIV of France.  (It was intended for the Pincio Hill, Rome but never executed).  this room also contians a small bronze Crucifix that is attributed to Francesco Mochi.

  • Room IV, which is dedicated to the art of Rome in the 17th century, contains a terracotta model (ca. 1644) by Pietro da Cortona and Cosimo Fancelli of a relief for the church of SS Luca e Martina, Rome.

Second Floor below Ground Level

This space is devoted to six diagrams on blackboards that the German artist Joseph Beuys (1921-86) executed during a colloquium with Alberto Burri that was held in 1980 in Rocca Paolina.  Beuys used these sketches to illustrate his approach to the theory of art.

Return to Walk IV.