Palazzo della Provincia: Provincial Headquarters in Arezzo
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Medieval, Modern
- Civilizations
- Grand Duchy of Tuscany, Italian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page9 sections
History
Palazzo della Provincia is a provincial administrative headquarters in Arezzo, Italy, built between 1913 and 1925 in a combination of Gothic Revival and Neo-Renaissance forms. It remains part of the city’s concentration of major administrative buildings around the cathedral, the Palazzo dei Priori, the Palazzo del Comune, and the Casa Vasari.
Reorganization of the site
The area between Via Ricasoli and Piazza della Libertà was first reorganized in 1849–1851. Engineer Angiolo Cianferoni consolidated several existing buildings to create the seat of the Grand Ducal prefecture, the prefectural administrative office of the former Grand Duchy of Tuscany, which ruled the area before Italian unification. Its façade faced the Palazzo dei Priori.
Construction of the provincial headquarters
On 24 February 1913, the provincial administration of Arezzo approved a new headquarters and commissioned engineer Giuseppe Paoli to design it. His project combined a new office building toward Via dell’Orto with the restoration and integration of two fourteenth-century houses, the Guadagnoli and del Predicatore buildings. The older structures were adapted for reception rooms and the council chamber, while the new construction provided administrative offices. Masonry work was carried out by the Arezzo firm Giuseppe Rossi, and the headquarters was officially inaugurated on 27 September 1925.
Commemorative decoration and later changes
At Paoli’s suggestion, painter Adolfo De Carolis received the commission for the frescoes on 30 May 1922. He began work in the summer of that year and completed the paintings at the end of 1923, apart from the map of the province, which was made by Diego Pettinelli. The decorative program celebrates the “Great Aretines,” bringing together historical figures from Gaio Cilnio Mecenate, a Roman statesman and patron of the arts associated with ancient Arretium, to Pietro Benvenuti. They gather around Michelangelo Buonarroti, seated centrally before an unfinished sculpture and accompanied by Luca Signorelli. Other themes include fire, agricultural work, and the grape harvest.
From the 1950s onward, additions were built within the internal courtyards, partly filling them and substantially changing the original arrangement. Since 28 April 2007, rooms beneath the Hanging Garden have housed a permanent wildlife exhibition. The building continues to serve as the seat of the Province of Arezzo and contains offices. The ground-floor Atrio d’Onore also accommodates painting and photography exhibitions and other cultural events.
Architectural critics showed limited interest in the complex during its construction and afterward, probably because its medieval and Renaissance references appeared markedly anachronistic in the mid-1920s. A commemorative publication from 1925 praised its historical sensibility and refined decoration. Later interpretation emphasized that the project went beyond straightforward conservation, subordinating the treatment of the older buildings to the commemorative requirements of its period.
Remains
Plan and exterior façades
The complex occupies much of the western part of the block bounded by Via Ricasoli, the Corso, Via dell’Orto, and Piazza dei Priori. Its principal core lies in the eastern portion, next to a walled garden, with access from both Via Ricasoli and Via dell’Orto. The plan is L-shaped, and the several levels reflect the combination of older and newer units. The main front has sections of two and three storeys, the side facing the garden has two storeys above a semi-basement, and the southern front has three storeys.
The representative façade on Via Ricasoli uses Gothic Revival forms, while the building on the opposite side of the block adopts references drawn from Renaissance palaces. Differences in stone masonry and in the arrangement of openings preserve visible traces of the two medieval houses incorporated into the complex. At ground level, the main front contains five arched openings followed by two more. Corresponding arched windows rise above them, with the eastern group staggered in height and the western section completed by two additional openings framed by bands of masonry following the curves of the arches.
The eastern façade is arranged with a sequence of stone-framed windows. The plastered southern façade has stone corner blocks and follows the pattern of a Renaissance private palace. Its entrance has an arched doorway with a rusticated surface, meaning masonry blocks emphasized by projecting joints or roughly treated faces, while the ground floor contains framed windows. Four windows occupy each upper level, with arched, rusticated openings on the main floor and simpler arched openings on the second floor.
Entrance hall and representative rooms
Four ground-floor portals lead into a large square entrance hall decorated with medieval motifs. At its center stands an octagonal stone pillar, and a fresco by De Carolis presents the allegory of Equity. A monumental staircase at the far end rises partly on a flying arch, with stone steps and a stone balustrade that ends in two lion sculptures.
The representative staircase leads to the pre-council room and the council chamber. The rectangular council chamber has a wooden coffered ceiling, divided into recessed panels, made by Pagno Boncompagni. Its western side forms a double-height space, with the pre-council room below and a public loggia, an open or partly open gallery, above. Two stone pilasters with pseudo-Ionic capitals, which imitate the volutes and proportions of the classical Ionic order, divide the loggia from the chamber. A central wall panel carries a frescoed allegory of Fire.
The chamber walls are arranged in three horizontal zones. A panelled base supports a middle section with heraldic motifs and hangings made with the participation of Diego Pettinelli. Above them runs a frieze with allegories of art, science, the seven liberal arts, agriculture, and industry. The seven liberal arts were the traditional grouping of grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, music, and astronomy. The eastern wall bears the large fresco of the famous Aretines.
Office wing and interior craftsmanship
The portal on Via dell’Orto opens onto a long corridor, with offices arranged symmetrically on the ground and upper floors. At the corridor’s end, a staircase overlooks the internal garden. It has a frescoed, panelled dado, steps made of pietra serena, a fine-grained gray sandstone used for architectural details and steps, and a wrought-iron balustrade decorated with floral motifs and dragon forms.
The complex’s decorative elements were produced by several specialized firms and workshops. The Sigismondo Burroni firm supplied sandstone work. Alfredo Valenti of Arezzo and the Fratelli Mariani firm of Florence made the wrought iron, while Enrico Casini produced the woodwork. The Bruschi firm of Arezzo supplied furnishings for the main hall and some smaller rooms, and the De Matteis firm of Florence made the stained glass.
Atrio d’Onore and Hanging Garden rooms
The Atrio d’Onore occupies the ground floor facing Via Ricasoli and forms one of the complex’s principal public interiors. Beneath the Hanging Garden, a separate group of rooms contains the permanent wildlife exhibition established there in 2007.
Nearby sites
