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The Civic Palaces
(XIII century) PALAZZO DEL CAPITANO
DEL POPOLO The Palace of the Captain of the People was constructed
in front of the Consiglio Comunale in the XIII century when the
position of the Captain of the People was established.
The palace originally crenelated and crowned with a high tower of
which there are remains on the left side, to which a bell was attached
to call meetings. In 1411, after the comune was purchased by the
Florentine Republic, the position of the Captain of the People was
removed and the palace was turned over to the tax and duty offices.
In 1512 it was donated by the Council of the Comune to Silvio Passerini,
to win his favour, as he had been named datary by pope Leo X Medici.
The Medici were the Signori of Florence on whom the Cortonese depended.
Passerini decides the bell should be moved and enriches the palace
with frescoes and stained glass windows by Guglielmo Marcillant,
works of art which today no longer exist. He hosted pope Leo X on
the 15, 16 and 17 of November at this palace in the year 1515, a
stop which the pope made during a trip to Bologna to meet the King
of France Francois I. The palace became the property of the heirs
of Cardinal Passerini in the following centuries and underwent transformations
and expansion which make it difficult to read the primitive form
of the building. The property has now been divided into many small
condominiums, which seems to hold little respect for its glorious
past.
(XVI century) PALAZZO VESCOVILE The bishop's palace rose from the
ruins of old buildings which had been used by the clergy which served
the antique urban parish church of Santa Maria. Traditional legend
would have it also be the home of Brother Elias during his first
period of residence in Cortona. The remains which can still be seen
on the facade shows evidence of a medieval door that would have
been part of the building. The expansion and the transformation
of the Bishop's Palace are credited to Silvio Passerini, when in
1521, while already cardinal, he is also nominated as the bishop
of Cortona. Other expansions and embellishments were added by successive
bishops. To the left of the 1500's entry door there are three crests.
The first on the left is of the bishop Leonardo Bonafede (1529-1539),
the centre one of Matteo Contini (1560-1562) and the last on the
right of Costantino Veltroni (1577-1595). The palace is the headquarters
of the offices of the Bishops Curate and its archives.
On the lateral facade two marble plaques commemorate the visit of
Queen of the Napoleonic Kingdom of Etruria, Maria Luisa Infante
of Spain to the city of Cortona in 1803. She was the guest of the
Florentine bishop Filippo Ganucci (1802-1806). The Queen stayed
as a guest of the Mancini family in their palace on Via Nazionale
where another commemorative marble tablet may found.
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