Key to Umbria: Amelia
 


Palazzo Farrattini (ca. 1517)


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Images courtesy of Signor Ettore Farrattini Pojani

Bishop Bartolomeo II Farrattini, who commissioned Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane to design this palace, is commemorated in the inscription:

UT MEMINERINT POSTERI BARTHOLOMEUM FARRATINUM

ALIQUANDO FUISSE EX LABORUM ET VIGILIARUM SUARUM

RELIQUIIS IPSE ET SUIS CASAM POSUIT  

Bartolomeo II Farrattini was the Prefect of the Fabbrica di San Pietro in Rome and would have had close links with Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane, who became capomaestro there in 1520.  The palace was first documented in his will of 1527.

Palazzo Farrattini is a scaled-down version of Antonio’s more famous Palazzo Farnese, which he had built for Cardinal Alessandro Farnese in Rome.  (In fact, Palazzo Farrattini probably reflects the original design (1517) for Palazzo Farnese, which was redesigned on a grander scale after Farnese’s election as Pope Paul III in 1534).

Antonio's original floor plan for Palazzo Farrattini survives in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, although the design was simplified before construction.  Giorgio Vasari described the resulting palace as "a beautiful and imposing work whereby Antonio [da Sangallo] acquired no little fame and profit".   It must have made an enormous impression on Farrattini's more provincial neighbours. 

The palace was built on the site of the Roman baths, most of which disappeared when it was built, although two black and white mosaic floors (2nd century AD) survive inside, some 4 meters below the present pavement level.  These rooms are connected to the subterranean cistern that is now on the opposite side of the road.  A small statue (1st century BC) of a figure in a toga, which was found nearby and which is now in the Museo Archeologico, probably came from a niche in the baths.  If this is correct, they were clearly used over a considerable period of time.




The informative website for Palazzo Farrattini, which now offers accommodation, is at www.palazzofarrattini.it