At the end of the thirteenth century Pistoia
enjoyed a period of economic wealth and political stability, creating
the need for a larger and more dignified building for the magistracy
which until then had been temporarily located first in private houses
and then in an old building no longer in existence today. A widely
known legend of the last century, unconfirmed by any document, recounted
that the building that is today the seat of city government was
commissioned by the then gover or Giano della Bella; in fact, even
today the building is known as the Palazzo di Giano. In truth, even
before Giano's time, the City had bought a group of houses in the
corner between the piazza and the present day Ripa dei Sale near
the first ring of city walls (
vs
8) and so, as recent research shows, Giano did not really
play an active role in the building of the palazzo.
The history of the building's construction is rather complex and
even today is not completely clear. In spite of the lack of documentation,
however, we can reconstruct the main developments. The first construction
was built in the late 1200s around the courtyard where the sculpture
Miracolo by Marini Marini (
vs
49) is now situated; it was known as the Palazzo of the
Old Lords and of the Chief Magistrate. lt was extended during the
first half of the next century when the portico of the façade
was added, formed at first of only four archways. A later extension
built on the rooms next to the Ripa della Comunità (today used for
temporary exhibitions), and the building was raised to the third
floor level. A fifth arch was added to balance the façade
which presents a very different form from other models of Tuscan
public architecture.
Towards the mid-fourteenth century the palazzo took the form that
it still has today: in fact few modifications were made in later
centuries and these mostly involved the indoor spaces that have
been adapted over the course of time to the administrations' changing
needs.
In the first half of the 1600s the bridge linking the palazzo to
the cathedral (
vs31) was
built, allowing the magistrates direct access to the church in order
to attend services. At the height of the Medici regime's power,
the family's coat of arms was added to the center of the façade
with the papal crown and great keys above, a tribute to Pope Leone
X, an illustrious member of the Medici family. On the same façade
there are many traces of the Medieval era such as the black marble
head underneath a metal club, which popular legend identifies as
the traitor Filippo Tedici, although it is presumably a portrait
of King Musetto II of Majorca, killed by the Pistoian captain Grandonio
dei Ghisilieri during the conquest of the Baleares Islands in the
twelfth century. lnstead Tedici's head can be seen on the doorway
of the church of Sant'Andrea (
vs25)
and legend has it that it is black because, as a sign of disgust
for his deeds, the Pistoians extinguished their torches on his face
before going into church.
(n.) refers to the number of the file-card (s.i.) means see information
inside
The
Bears of Pistoia
