Palazzo della Corgna – Città della Pieve

Palazzo della Corgna, located in the historic center of Città della Pieve, was built between 1555 and 1563 by the will of the Marquis of Castiglione del Lago Ascanio della Corgna and his brother Cardinal Fulvio, members of a family which often patronized and promoted the construction of buildings of great value and importance in the Umbrian territory. Their mother was Giacoma Ciocchi del Monte, Pope Julius III’s sister, who had assigned her the Lordship of “Castel di Pieve”.

The project for the building, which incorporated the hunting house once belonged to the Baglioni, was designed by the architect Galeazzo Alessi, while Pomarancio and his pupil Salvio Savini were enthrusted with the realization of the rich interior decorations. Because of the high costs for the maintenance of the building works, paid at the expense of the parishioners through very high taxes, the Palace was not completed. When in 1643 it was requisitioned by the heads of Vatican city, it passed first to the Amidei family and then, in 1793, to the Mazzuoli family: the latter were responsible for numerous interventions, including the realization of the Venetian floors in the Great Hall and the Red Room on the first floor.

On the first floor, where the representative rooms and the apartment of Ascanio della Corgna are located, the vaults frescoed by Niccolò Circignani known as Pomarancio in 1564 show a Reunion of Muses. The ground floor, instead, which served as a “secret” part of the palace, usually used as a place of intellectual recreation, was probably frescoed by Salvio Savini who painted a Banquet of the Gods.

All the interiors, as well as the monumental staircases, preserve fresco decorations with grotesques and large mythological and sacred panels, following a representative scheme which was typical in Rome during the sixteenth century.

In 1975, the Palace was purchased by the Municipal Administration: nowadays, the Municipal Library (where also an Etruscan obelisk dating back to sec. V B.C. is preserved) is on the ground floor, while on the first floor, in addition to the Museum of Science and Natural History of the Territory, some rooms are dedicated to exhibitions.

Interior of Palazzo della Corgna

The rooms of the Palace take the name from the subject depicted in the different frescoes decorating the walls.

On the first floor it is possible to find the “Room of Paris”. The centre of the vault shows the Judgement of Paris, while some mythological scenes are depicted in the octagons on the sides: Hercules killing the Hydra, Diana and Endymion, Perseus and Andromeda, Pyramus and Thisbe. The frescoes celebrate the marriage of Diomedes della Corgna, nephew and adopted son of Ascanio, with Porzia Colonna. The four coats of arms at the corners highlight the relationship with the Colonna family: on the left the coat of arms of Cardinal Fulvio della Corgna, Ascanio’s borther, quartered with that of the Ciocchi del Monte, Pope Julius III and Giacoma’s family, mother of Ascanio and Fulvio, and the coat of arms of Diomedes della Corgna. On the right, the coat of arms of Corgnesco with the coat of arms of Colonna indicate the prestigious marriage, together with the coat of arms of Cardinal Marcantonio Colonna.

The “Hall of Ascanio’s achievements” celebrates the founder of the dynasty: the political and military events of his life are represented along the walls in sixteen fake tapestries. On the vault, Ascanio della Corgna receives the Custodian of the Church staff from Julius III. Along the walls, one of the most significant scenes of the cycle is the one narrating the siege of Genoa, when Ascanio valiantly fights despite his young age; then other important events follow, such as the duel with Giovanni Taddei, remembered for the famous “hit” inflicted on the enemy, the meeting with the king of Spain Philip II and the battle of Lepanto, Ascanio’s last great enterprise. The floor decoration, with the coats of arms of Corgna and Colonna, celebrates again the marriage between Diomedes and Portia.

The “Hall of the Aeneid” tells the epic story of Aeneas: the brave hero, after escaping from Troy, destroyed by the Greeks, lands in Lazio, where, according to the story of Virgil in the Aeneid, his descendants founded Rome. Other mythological characters, such as Hercules, Ceres, Vulcan and Venus, are a hidden reference to Diomedes and the celebration of his marquisate.

In the “Hall of the Gods” Zeus, in the vault, represents the King of Olympus and is accompanied by other deities; the twelve zodiac signs also appear.

The “Battle Hall of Lake Trasimeno” was Ascanio the Second’s chamber. The pictorial cycle tells the battle of Lake Trasimeno through four episodes of the famous clash between the troops of Hannibal and the Roman army that took place near the current Tuoro sul Trasimeno, in 217 B.C.

The “Room of Pluto and Proserpina”, room belonged to Ascanio’s sister, Laura della Corgna, is dedicated to the myth of Proserpina, the young daughter of the goddess of fertility Ceres, kidnapped by the lord of the Underworld Pluto; the myth ends with the pact netween the two: Proserpina should spend six months a year in Hades, while the other six on Earth.

The goddess Ceres refers to Laura who, in giving birth to Diomedes allowed the dynastic continuity of the family.

The “Room of Caesar”, Diomedes’ancient study, celebrated in the vault with the representation of Della Corgna’s coat of arms, recalls Julius Caesar’s achievements and ends with the representation of the Ides of March. From the Hall, a door allows access to the covered walkway that connects the palace to the medieval fortress.

The ground floor, characterized by the “Hall of the Upside down World”, the “Hall of Arts” and the “Hall of Metamorphoses”, was intended to host literary entertainment and musical competitions. In the first room, some scenes are happening as opposed to the usual, such as the mouse that catches the cat and the game that captures the hound, warning about the subversion of natural order that has to be avoided. In the second room, the Arts are depicted in an allegorical key according to the indications contained in Cesare Ripa’s treatise. In the third room, some scenes of the Metamorphoses of Ovid are painted over by the coat of arms of Fulvio della Corgna and Eleonora de Mendoza.