Palazzo dei Priori

Why it matters

Palazzo dei Priori brings together Fermo's civic history, art collections and library. The building developed through the joining of earlier structures and preserves a Gothic exterior restored in the fifteenth century. Its picture gallery includes works by artists associated with the Marche and a 1608 Adorazione dei Pastori by Peter Paul Rubens.

What to notice

The double staircase rises to a portico beneath a statue of Pope Sixtus V by Accursio Baldi. The Pinacoteca includes works by Jacobello del Fiore, Vincenzo Pagani, Andrea Boscoli and Giovanni Lanfranco. The Sala del Mappamondo, part of the Biblioteca Civica Romolo Spezioli, preserves historic globes and manuscripts. The painted Loggetta of 1581 links the palace with the adjacent Palazzo degli Studi.

Context and history

The palace developed through the combination of earlier buildings during the later Middle Ages. The Gothic palace was restored in the first half of the fifteenth century, and the work was declared complete in 1525. The building continued to serve civic government and later housed the city's picture gallery and library. The Sala del Mappamondo preserves a connection between the palace's institutional and scholarly histories.