Palazzo dei Priori

Assisi’s municipal buildings of are made up of four structures, united at different times from the 13th to the 15th century. One of these is Palazzo dei Priori, located in the town’s central square, created through the Commune’s purchase of several houses in 1275.
The building was completed in 1295, when it appeared in archive documents as the Palatium novum Comunis Assisii. The upper floor housed the office of the five priors, who governed the town together with the podesta and the Captain of the People. The ground floors were leased to many shops, such as grocers, butchers and barbers, all probably in use until 1926. The building underwent restoration work starting in 1860, when the interior spaces were redesigned and it became the seat of the municipal government.
The rooms are richly decorated with remarkable paintings that celebrate the greatness of Assisi. The painter Alessandro Venanzi decorated the walls of the large entrance hall (Sala degli Stemmi) with enchanting views of the villas and castles of Assisi. In the center of the vaulted ceiling there is a heraldic shield, the town’s symbol.
The Sala del Consiglio (Council Hall) instead was decorated by the architect and painter Carlo Gino Venanzi, who both designed the wooden furnishings and painted the frescoes on the ceiling (1908-1909). The vaulted ceiling is painted with the allegorical figures of School, Beneficence, Work and Hygiene, who praise Concord in a time of Justice and Freedom. The lunettes are decorated with medallions bearing the Assisi coat of arms and portraits of illustrious personages, each identified by a cartouche. Lastly, the spandrels have the coats of arms of the main towns of Umbria.