Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo (ca. 1274-83)

The earliest surviving reference to a Capitano del Popolo in Assisi dates to 1267, although the office was probably introduced some decades earlier.  A plaque [on the curtain wall of the Palazzo] records its completion in 1282  under the Capitano del Popolo, Guidone de’ Rossi da Firenze. 

Fragments of frescoes from the palace that are preserved in the Pinacoteca are among the few examples of Italian civic secular art that survive from the13th century.

Fresco (ca. 1290) of a simple man paying homage to St Francis Upper church, San Francesco Photo courtesy of Paolo Rossi

The original gable roof and traceried windows of the palace are recorded in a fresco in San Francesco.  (The present battlements date to the restoration of 1926).

The ground floor of the palace was used for commercial purposes (salt shops, warehouses) from at least 1333.

In 1340, for an unknown reason, this palace passed to the Podestà, while the Capitano del Popolo moved to the ex-temple.

The palace was almost completely destroyed in 1442, when Nicolò Piccinino sacked the city, and it was never again put to civic use.  It was used as a school after its restoration in the early 16th century. 

Return to Walk III