Palazzo Sarcinelli

Palazzo Sarcinelli is a Renaissance residence on Conegliano’s Contrada Grande, built in 1518 by the Ceneda branch of the Sarcinelli family. After serving as the town library, it became the seat of Conegliano’s gallery of modern and contemporary art in 1988. Today its exhibition programme brings visitors into the palace’s historic rooms.

Why it matters

The palace hosted several prominent visitors, including Bona Sforza in 1556 and Henry III of France in 1574. In the twentieth century it passed to the municipality and served as the town library. The city gallery was established here in 1988 under Marco Goldin, who directed it until 2002. After restoration in 2008–09, the palace hosted exhibitions of sixteenth-century painting curated by Giandomenico Romanelli and organised with Civita Tre Venezie.

What to notice

The three-storey façade has a portico of five round arches, with sculpted heads and floral motifs on the piers. The rectangular entrance portal is flanked by Corinthian columns. On the piano nobile, a four-light window with pink-marble colonnettes is set between pairs of round-headed openings. The windows on this floor have balustrades; square openings and a dentilled cornice complete the attic storey.

Inside, the entrance hall and piano nobile preserve monochrome friezes attributed to sixteenth-century Conegliano workshops, with proposed attributions including Riccardo Perucolo, Ludovico Fiumicelli and Francesco Beccaruzzi. The palace also contains salons with stuccoes and bas-reliefs. In the attic, the Galleria Novecento hosts periodic exhibitions of contemporary art.

Context and history

The palace was built on the Contrada Grande, the historic commercial street where Conegliano’s patrician families built their residences. In the late twentieth century, its civic gallery presented monographic exhibitions of artists including Morlotti, Sutherland, Schifano, Clerici and Pizzinato. Since the 2008–09 restoration, the rooms have continued to host temporary exhibitions.