Palazzo Comunale | |
---|---|
Alternative names | Palazzo del Popolo |
General information | |
Location | Piazza del Duomo, San Gimignano, Tuscany, Italy |
Coordinates | 43°28′04″N11°02′35″E / 43.467869°N 11.042923°E |
Completed | 13th Century |
Height | 54 meters |
The Palazzo Comunale (Italian : Municipal palace), also known as the Palazzo del Popolo (Italian : People's palace) of San Gimignano has been the seat of the civic authority in the comune since the 13th century. It is located on the Piazza del Duomo close to the Collegiate Church of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The building and Collegiate Church are at the heart of the medieval town, and are part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the "Historic Centre of San Gimignano". [1]
The building contains important fresco decorations by Memmo di Filippuccio, Lippo Memmi and others, a museum and a gallery with works of the Florentine and Sienese schools of art - including paintings by Coppo di Marcovaldo, Lippo Memmi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi, Il Sodoma and Pinturicchio. [2]
The Palazzo Comunale dates from the late 13th century, and was built on the ruins of an existing building between 1289 and 1298. [3] Further expanded in the 14th century, [4] the facade is characterised by arched windows, with the lower half of the frontage built with stone, and the upper part in brick.
On the ground floor is a courtyard, which was built in 1323 [5] and is decorated with the coats of arms of those who have held public office in the municipality. [3] The main civic offices of the town council are now located on this ground floor. [6]
On the first floor is a stepped gallery from which dignitaries would address the gathered crowd in the square. The battlements date from a restoration of the nineteenth century, [4] and the structure is capped by the "Torre Grossa” (great tower). This tower was completed in 1300 [6] and (at 54 meters) is the highest tower in the walled town. [3]
The Palazzo Comunale, seat of the government of San Gimignano, was built in 1288. Enlarged in 1323, the palace became the seat of the town after it had taken place in the nearby Palazzo Vecchio del Podestà, from 1337. The building houses the civic museum since 1852. The crenellated crown and other elements date back to the restoration carried out by Giuseppe Partini between 1878 and 1881.
The Civic Museum of San Gimignano is located on the upper floors of the building and can be accessed both from the Piazza del Duomo and from the courtyard behind the Palace. The courtyard was built in 1323 and is decorated with frescoes or sculpted coats of arms and, in the center, a cistern arranged in 1361. Among the frescoes is a Sant'Ivo that makes justice of Sodom, a Madonna with two saints by an unidentified Sienese painter of the second half of the fourteenth century, and a Justice that tramples on the lie monochrome of Vincenzo Tamagni (sixteenth century). From here starts the external staircase for the entrance to the premises of the museum, covered by a canopy supported by brick columns. [7]
The "Sala del Consiglio" is a large reception hall which was used as the council chamber. [3] It is commonly known as the "Sala di Dante" and is named for the noted poet Dante Alighieri who visited San Gimignano in 1300 as an ambassador of the Florentine Republic. [8] He pleaded before the mayor and the general council the cause of a Tuscan Guelph league. [7]
The room is decorated with a Maestà by Lippo Memmi. Commissioned in 1317 by Nello de Mino Tolomei (then podestà of San Gimignano), the fresco is believed to have been inspired by the one painted by his brother-in-law Simone Martini's Maestà from the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. [9] The fresco shows Mary seated on a throne surrounded by adoring saints and angels (including patron Nello de Mino Tolomei). [9]
Just off the great hall is a meeting room which was originally used for private meetings.
The next room was used by the city government. It contains the ancient carved and inlaid wooden seats (1475) and a bust of San Bartolo in coloured terracotta of the first half of the fifteenth century within a niche. On this floor, there is another small room with a bust of Guido Marabottini, in Florentine terracotta of the fifteenth century. From here also starts the staircase for the climb to the Torre Grossa. The actual art gallery is located on the second floor. [7]
The gallery itself is on the second floor and contains works by Coppo di Marcovaldo, Lippo Memmi, Benozzo Gozzoli, Filippino Lippi, Il Sodoma, Pinturicchio, Azzo di Masetto, Niccolò di Ser Sozzo; Taddeo di Bartolo, Lorenzo di Niccolò, the so-called Master of 1419, and Benedetto da Maiano. [10]
The first room is called The Trinity, due to a painting on this topic (1497) by Pier Francesco Fiorentino. It also houses a Madonna and Child with Saints by Leonardo da Pistoia and a Pietà by Bastiano Mainardi.
Other rooms contain a Maestà from the late thirteenth century, altar decorations by Memmo di Filippuccio, a Madonna and Child by Vincenzo Tamagni (1528), several Gothic altarpieces (including one showing scenes from the life of Saint Gimignano), a Madonna with Saints Gregory and Benedict by Pinturicchio, and two medieval crucifixes of the Florentine school.
The Podestà apartments (Camera del Podestà) are frescoed with matrimonial scenes of a couple taking a bath and going to bed. (An unusual work by Memmo di Filippuccio dated to the early 14th century.) [6]
Montalcino is a hill town and comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy.
Simone Martini was an Italian painter born in Siena. He was a major figure in the development of early Italian painting and greatly influenced the development of the International Gothic style.
San Gimignano is a small walled medieval hill town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, north-central Italy. Known as the Town of Fine Towers, San Gimignano is famous for its medieval architecture, unique in the preservation of about a dozen of its tower houses, which, with its hilltop setting and encircling walls, form "an unforgettable skyline". Within the walls, the well-preserved buildings include notable examples of both Romanesque and Gothic architecture, with outstanding examples of secular buildings as well as churches. The Palazzo Comunale, the Collegiate Church and Church of Sant' Agostino contain frescos, including cycles dating from the 14th and 15th centuries. The "Historic Centre of San Gimignano" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The town also is known for saffron, the dry aged and saffron infused Golden Ham, pecorino cheese and its white wine, Vernaccia di San Gimignano, produced from the ancient variety of Vernaccia grape grown on the sandstone hillsides of the area.
Città di Castello ; "Castle Town") is a city and comune in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is 56 km (35 mi) north of Perugia and 104 km (65 mi) south of Cesena on the motorway SS 3 bis. It is connected by the SS 73 with Arezzo and the A1 highway, situated 38 km (23 mi) west. The comune of Città di Castello has an exclave named Monte Ruperto within Marche.
The Collegiata di Santa Maria Assunta or Duomo di San Gimignano is a Roman Catholic collegiate church and minor basilica in San Gimignano, in Tuscany in central Italy. It contains important cycles of Renaissance frescoes by artists including Domenico Ghirlandaio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Taddeo di Bartolo, Lippo Memmi and Bartolo di Fredi. It falls within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of the "Historic Centre of San Gimignano", with its frescoes being described by UNESCO as "works of outstanding beauty".
Benozzo Gozzoli was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.
Spello is an ancient town and comune (township) of Italy, in the province of Perugia in eastern-central Umbria, on the lower southern flank of Monte Subasio. It is 6 km (4 mi) NNW of Foligno and 10 km (6 mi) SSE of Assisi. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Montefalco is a historic small hill town in Umbria, Italy, with a population of 5,581 in August 2017. It has been settled since pre-Roman times, and retains many of its historic buildings. From 1446 to 1861 it was part of the Papal States. It is one of I Borghi più belli d'Italia.
Pienza is a town and comune in the province of Siena, Tuscany, in the historical region of Val d'Orcia. Situated between the towns of Montepulciano and Montalcino, it is considered the "touchstone of Renaissance urbanism".
Poggibonsi is a town in the province of Siena, Tuscany, Central Italy. It is located on the River Elsa and is the main centre of the Valdelsa Valley.
Coppo di Marcovaldo was a Florentine painter in the Italo-Byzantine style, active in the middle of the thirteenth century, whose fusion of both the Italian and Byzantine styles had great influence on generations of Italian artists.
Lippo Memmi was an Italian painter from Siena. He was the foremost follower of Simone Martini, who was his brother-in-law.
The Palazzo dei Priori or comunale is one of the best examples in Italy of a public palace from the communal era. It is located in the central Piazza IV Novembre in Perugia, Umbria. It extends along Corso Vannucci up to Via Boncambi. It still houses part of the municipality, and, on the third floor, the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. It takes its name from the Priori, the highest political authority governing the city in the medieval era.
Palazzo del Podestà is Italian for "Palace of the Chief Magistrate" of a town.
Pier Francesco Fiorentino was a 15th-century painter active in San Gimignano for much of his mature life, depicting religious-themed subjects.
The Church of Santa Maria dei Servi is a Romanesque style, Roman Catholic church in the Terzo of San Martino in the city of Siena, Tuscany, Italy.
The Palazzo Pretorio is a historical building in Prato, Tuscany, Italy. It was the old city hall, standing in front of the current Palazzo Comunale. It now accommodates the Civic Museum of Prato, which was reopened in September 2013.
Memmo di Filippuccio was a 14th-century painter from Siena, Italy.
Piazza del Duomo is a city square in San Gimignano, Italy.
The Palazzo degli Anziani also known as the Palazzo del Comune, della Comunitá or del Giano is a Gothic-style stone palace located in the ancient historic center of Pistoia, Tuscany, Italy. The palace served as city hall for centuries; it still belongs to the comune and now mainly houses the Museo Civico d'Arte Antica.