The old episcopal building in Piazza del Duomo (vs3) could not have corresponded in any way with Bishop Scipione de' Ricci's espectations (vi)in fact, just a year after his nomination to head the Diocese of Pistoia and Prato, in the second half of the 1700s, he proposed the building's total renovation to the architect Bernardo Fallani.
Nothing came of the project firstly because of the real difficulty in adequately restructuring the building and secondly because it had become a symbol of the old orders that Scipione deeply opposed throughout his time in office. While waiting to erect a building that would make the Bishop's new ideas visible in the city, a temporary residence was found in the former monastery of the Olivetan(vs45).
The project for the new building sites its construction in the garden of the Ospedale di San Gregorio on the road to Lucca, the street that is today named after Niccolò Puccini (vs21), It was entrusted to the Pistoian architect Stefano Ciardi, not a well-known figure but a strictly observing follower of Ricci.
The building has a certain impressiveness and the present façade reflects the canons of eighteenth century construction; it is rigorously ordered with the front divided into vertical panels with a central portico composed of four columns. Contrary to what one imagines, this façade was originally planned as the back of the building. In fact Ciardi had drawn the main front on the opposite side, planning the entrance from a street that was to run along the city wal (vs8) but that was never carried out.
Bishop Scipione de' Ricci never lived in the new palace because the popular unrest caused by his reform forced him to leave Pistoia while he was still living in the provisional seat. The first tenant of this imposing residence was his successor and ever since the building has housed the city's bishops. Many famous people have spent time here, from the still unknown Napoleon, commander of the Armée d'Italie, to Pope Pius Vii who passed through Pistoia on his way to crown Bonaparte.

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

Bischop Scipione de' Ricci

Scipione was born in Florence to the noble de' Ricci family in 1741. From his earliest youth he was educated in the values of great spirituality, inspired by the history of his own family: his ancestors included the venerated Santa Caterina de' Ricci. While studying at the Jesuit College in Rome, he was attracted to the reform movement inspired by Jansenist ideals. Having obtained his degree in law 1766, he was ordained to the priesthood. He was named Bishop of Pistoia and Prato in 1780 and he began his apostolate in the two Tuscan cities, supported in his ideas of ecclesiastical reform by the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo di Lorena. With the Synod of Pistoia in 1786 Scipione's theories of reform were concretely applied to diocesan life and immediately spread throughout the whole Tuscan state, thanks once again to the Grand Duke's aid. When Pietro Leopoldo left Tuscany after his imperial investiture, Scipione found himself isolated without the Prince's support and saw his theories contested until the violent conflicts in 1 790 forced him to flee. The next year Scipione renounced the bishop's position and retired to private life. He died in 1840.

Chronology

1741 1780 1786 1787-1792 1790 1804 1810

Scipione de' Ricci is born. He is ordained bishop The Synod.of Pistoia. Construction of the new Palazzo dei Vescovi. Scipione de' Ricci flees Pistoia. Pius VII stays in the Palazzo. Scipione de' Ricci dies.

Bibliography

Scipione de'Ricci e la realtà pistoiese della fine del Settencento, Pistoia ,1986
N.Andreini Galli, I palazzi pistoiesi, schede storiche a cura di N.Rauty, Pisa, 1991
Il Sinodo di Pistoia del 1876, atti del convegno internazionale per il secondo centenario, a cura di C. Lamioni, Roma, 1992