In the late nineteenth century, the Cassa di Risparmio advertised an open competition for the building of its new headquarters, clearly stating that it should be inspired by Florentine architecture of the late fifteenth century. The building as it appears today in its Neo-Renaissance style with clear references to Florence's Palazzo Strozzi was the result of a mentality still rooted in the stylistic canons of safe tradition, a mentality that was wide spread especially among the local ruling class of that time.
The entire medieval quarter of San Matteo was destroyed to make way for the new construction. Indeed room was needed around the palazzo so that its monumental form could be admired; a form that derived its force and high profile from its isolation from the. surrounding context; today this effect is no longer perceptible because of the architect Giovanni Michelucci's (vi).
new construction on the back of the building. The Cassa di Risparmio Building was completed at the beginning of this century. Although it originated in the most rigid tradition according to the Bolognese architect Tito Azzolini's plan, it presented truly innovative elements with respect to its models of reference such as the polychrome frieze that crowns the severe façade. Even the metal window gratings on the ground floor, carried out ~ in wrought ironwork by the famous Michelucci metal works of Pistoia (who also made the great skylight over the interior courtyard) are unequaled for the freedom of their decoration. But the real change from what the architect had planned and what the bank had commissioned was found in the frescos that the Florentine artist Galileo Chini painted in the building's interior rooms. This is Chini' s first large-scale cycle of wall painting but it is also one of the first Italian decorative works in the Art Nouveau style. Even though Chini alternated medieval-like figures with compositions taken from a Neo-fifteenth century repertory, the friezes with joyful cherubs holding up garlands of laurel, as well as the peacocks' feathers and ornamental panels point out his decided passage into the formalism of the Art Nouveau movement. The pictorial decoration was completed in the i 930s by the Pistoian painter Luigi Mazzei who followed Chini's style. The Cassa di Risparmio palazzo not only constitutes the most characteristic piece of Pistoian building between the two centuries but it is also the forerunner of other architectural projects (vs6), that introduced modem forms into the city's architecture.

(n.) refers to the number of the file-card (s.i.) means see information inside

The Agenzia n.1, a necessary enlargement of the Pistoian bank was designed by the architect Giovanni Michelucci between 1 957 and 1965 to replace the previous building which had housed the Goods Exchange. The use of white San Giuliano stone and cement characterizes the fa~ade in which a very wide rectangular window has been opened. Indoors the space consists of one roorn which has recently been furnished by the Pistoian architect Giovanni Bassi