Palazzo Petrignani

Palazzo Petrignani on Amelia's main square preserves eight frescoed rooms from the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The decorative cycle includes the months and zodiac signs, emperors and popes; once attributed to the Zuccari school, it is now associated with painters closer to Amelia.

Why it matters

The palace reflects the ambitions of Amelia's Petrignani family. Fantino Petrignani served Pope Gregory XIII as majordomo, papal legate and diplomat. The family commissioned a residence whose frescoed rooms celebrate its status. Art historians have reassessed the cycle's attribution, associating its first campaign with artists in Livio Agresti's orbit, including Tarquinio Racani and Giustino Episcopi.

What to notice

The noble floor contains eight frescoed rooms with central narrative panels framed by grottesche. In the Sala dello Zodiaco, twelve lunettes depict the months with their zodiac signs. The ceiling shows Leo the Great repelling Attila, surrounded by medallions of the four elements; overdoors show city plans of Florence, Rome, Bologna and Milan. The Sala di Costantino e Massenzio celebrates Constantine's victory over pagan Rome. The Sala dell'Albornoz recalls the cardinal who recovered Amelia for the Papal States. Painted around 1607, the Sala di Eraclio by Marzio Ganassini and workshop shows the Byzantine emperor's triumph at Nineveh. Other rooms refer to the Somaschi college founded in 1601 and the 1595 siege of Strigonia. Sculpted heraldry at the entrance includes the Petrignani trimonzio, the Nini roses and the Boccarini balls.

Context and history

The residence was built in the second half of the sixteenth century for Bartolomeo Petrignani, largely financed by his brother Fantino, and entrusted to papal architect Ottaviano Mascarino. A plaque reading “Bartholomeus Petrignanus MDLIII” recalls an earlier phase and the 1553 marriage that joined the family's fortunes. The building was likely complete by 1592, when Bartolomeo invited painters from Sansepolcro to decorate it. The first fresco campaign is now attributed to artists in Livio Agresti's orbit, including Tarquinio Racani and Giustino Episcopi; earlier accounts attributed the cycle to the Zuccari school. The palace's grand facade was never completed.