Il Palazzo dei Priori is located at the corner between Piazza IV Novembre and Corso Vannucci in Perugia.
Headquarters of the highest political authority of the city, it was decorated over the years by the best artists.
The first building core, dating back to the seventies of the 13th century, was constituted. From the last decade of the thirteenth century, around a private architectural complex developed the “palatium novum populi”, whose construction was carried out in successive phases, resulting in an irregular layout architecture, rich in asymmetries and movement.
A first core of the palace, built between 1293 and 1297, consists of the three triforas on the second floor and the portal on the square side, as well as ten triforas that open onto Corso Vannucci. During a first enlargement (1333-1337), two triforas were added on the facade of the square on either side of the portal and the staircase (originally not fan-shaped), designed by Ambrogio Maitani (the semicircular staircase dates back to 1902). Subsequently, the right volume was built incorporating the pre-existing church of San Severo of the square, preceded by a portico with irregular arches.
In 1353 the palace reached the current Via dei Priori. In the following century, the enlargement continued, crossing Via dei Priori with an arch, also incorporating a medieval tower. A further extension was made between 1429 and 1443.
Climbing the staircase of the façade of the square, passing the ogival portal, surmounted by two copies of the two-hundred bronze Griffin and Lion, symbols of the city (the originals are inside the Palace), you enter the Hall of the Notaries. Originally the hall for popular assemblies, the rectangular room, with a vault supported by eight Romanesque arches, is entirely decorated with frescoes depicting legends, fables, and biblical stories dating back to the last decade of the thirteenth century, perhaps the work of the Master of Farneto and the Expressionist Master of Santa Chiara, as well as with coats of arms of podestà and captains of the people who succeeded each other in the city government.
The facade on the Corso features, in addition to the series of triforas and quadriforas, which lighten the horizontal sense of the wall mass, a rich round-arched portal dating back to the 14th century, flanked by pillars upheld by lions: on the left pillar are depicted the allegories of Magnanimity, Fertility, and Pride. On the right pillar, Avarice, Abundance, and Humility. The pillars are topped by two griffins that subdue calves, symbol of the Butchers’ art who commissioned the work, while in the arch scenes of human life are depicted. In the lunette copies (originals in the National Gallery of Umbria) of statues depicting Saint Louis of Toulouse, Saint Lawrence, and Saint Herculanus.
On the first floor of the Palace, seat of the municipal administration, there are various murals, including notable works by Bernardino Pinturicchio in the Council Chamber. On the third floor, home of the National Gallery of Umbria, is the Priori chapel, frescoed by Benedetto Bonfigli with Stories of the Life of Saint Louis of Toulouse and Saint Herculanus (1454-1480).
In the same building, along Corso Vannucci, are also the Collegio del Cambio, home of the money changers’ corporation, which preserves precious frescoes made between 1498 and 1500 by Pietro Vannucci called Perugino, one of the highest examples of Italian Renaissance art, and the Collegio della Mercanzia, that is, of the merchants, with an elegant walnut and poplar wood carved paneling, probably the work of craftsmen from beyond the Alps.
Information about Palazzo dei Priori
Corso Vannucci, 16
06121 Perugia (Perugia)
Source: MIBACT
