Palazzo Albertini

Palazzo Albertini brings a Venetian-influenced Renaissance facade to Forlì's Piazza Aurelio Saffi. Built between the late fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries, it combines pale stone window details with brick and terracotta ornament.

Why it matters

The palace adds an aristocratic residential element to a square also shaped by communal government and religious buildings. Its later adaptation shows how historic architecture acquired new political and civic roles in the twentieth century.

What to notice

Round arches form the ground-floor portico, while Corinthian pilasters divide the upper facade. Mullioned windows in Istrian stone sit beneath a loggia with a terracotta balustrade decorated with human and animal heads. The frontage is not entirely Renaissance: two arcade bays were added in 1929 beside the older portion adjoining the Palazzo del Podestà.

Context and history

The palace takes its name from the Albertini family, associated with its ownership in the seventeenth century. In 1929 it was converted into the provincial Casa del Fascio. After the Second World War, its use by the Camera del Lavoro gave the former Fascist premises a different political identity. These changes belong to the building's history alongside its earlier residential character.