Palazzo Trinci

On Piazza della Repubblica, the residence of Foligno's Trinci lords brings together an ambitious secular fresco programme associated with Gentile da Fabriano and his workshop, a chapel painted by Ottaviano Nelli, and the city's civic museums.

Why it matters

The palace was the seat of the Trinci family, who ruled Foligno from 1305 to 1439 as vicars of the Church. Its decorated rooms made that authority visible. After the family's fall, the building passed to papal governors, whose administration continued until Italian unification. Between 1411 and 1412 a workshop led by Gentile da Fabriano frescoed state rooms with allegories of the planets, the liberal arts and figures from Roman history. Corrado Trinci added a chapel in 1424, painted by Ottaviano Nelli.

What to notice

The courtyard has a broad brick portico with cross vaults; the Gothic staircase, once open to the sky, remains the structural spine of the three storeys. The Sala Sisto IV takes its name from the pope who had its wooden ceiling remade in 1475; his coat of arms remains there. The Loggia carries scenes from the founding of Rome, parts of which survive as sinopia. In the Cappella, Ottaviano Nelli's 1424 cycle follows the Life of the Virgin. The Sala delle Arti Liberali e dei Pianeti presents the seven planets and liberal arts. The Corridoio crosses the lane that once linked palace and cathedral. The Sala degli Imperatori preserves fifteen of its original twenty figures of Roman heroes, captioned with Latin verses by Francesco da Fiano.

Context and history

Ugolino III Trinci bought and rebuilt a block of merchant houses on the old Piazza Vecchia between 1389 and 1407, creating a Gothic residence around a main courtyard and two smaller ones. The fresco campaign followed in 1411–12. The family's rule ended in 1439, when papal forces took Foligno, and the palace became the residence of papal governors until 1860. Earthquakes in 1831–32 damaged the building. Its neoclassical facade was designed in the nineteenth century by Odoardo Poggi and later modified by Sigismondo Ferretti. Second World War bombing caused further damage, followed by restoration.