Palazzo Trinci

History

Palazzo Trinci was the residence of the Trinci family who ruled over the city from 1305 to 1439. The palace was built (attested by archival documents) over a medieval building by Ugolino III Trinci between 1389 and 1407. An adapted Roman burial stele states the date 1407, which may be the actual year the construction started. It was completed in 1411.

After the defeat and death of Corrado III Trinci (June 1441), the palace became the seat of the Priori del Popolo and the papal government of Foligno. From that moment on, the building began to decline slowly. Already in 1458 Pope Pius II had to provide 200 guilders for its restoration. A similar episode occurred in 1475 with pope Sixtus IV and in 1546 with pope Paul III Farnese. The south-west part of the building was used as a prison from 1578 on. The staircase in the courtyard was restored in 1679, but then demolished in 1781. In the early 18th century, a small part of the south-west building was converted to a small theater.

The building underwent serious damage by the earthquakes of 1831-1832 and minor damages by the bombing of Foligno in 1944 and the earthquake of 1985.

Description

The present inconspicuous Neoclassical façade dates only from 1842 to 1847. It was built by Vincenzo Vitali on a draft of Odoardo Poggi, amended by Sigismondo Ferretti.The arcaded inner courtyard reflects the problems the architects faced when they wanted to save as much as possible from the pre-existing structure. They created a transition from the Romanesque style and Gothic style of the ground floor to the Renaissance style of the upper floors. The steep Gothic staircase (Scala Gotica) was built over three Romanesque cross vaults between 1390 and 1400, when the palace still belonged to the wealthy merchant Giovanni Ciccarelli. The surface of this staircase and the surrounding cloister walls were originally covered with frescoes, now almost completely lost. The staircase, demolished in 1781, was rebuilt by Cesare Bazzani in 1927.

All frescoes in the palace, except those of the chapel, were commissioned by Ugolino III Trinci, who died in 1415. Their execution started probably in 1407. The concept of these fresco cycles probably came from Francesco Federico Frezzi, the bishop of Foligno and author of the Quadriregio, a poem of the four kingdoms Love, Satan, the Vices, and the Virtues. Some of these frescoes were painted between 1411 and 1412 by Gentile da Fabriano, with the assistance of Jacopo Bellini. The designs were by Gentile, but their painting was almost completely done by pupils. The authorship of the frescoes was attested by Lodovico Coltellini, a scholar who saw in 1780 two receipts to Ugolino Trinci by Gentile da Fabriano for painting the halls. Some of the frescoes in the palace depicting secular subjects are attributed to Giovanni di Corraduccio …