Palazzo della Loggia is a beautiful palace built in Renaissance style in Brescia, located in the square of the same name, today the seat of the city’s Municipal Council. SHORT HISTORY In 1484, the municipal authorities of Brescia decided to build a grandiose palace as an expression of good governance, replacing the original loggia and increasing the monumentality of Piazza della Loggia, which was rising at the time. The first project was presented by Tomaso Formentone, an architect from Vicenza. The project of Formentone involved the construction of a building entirely of wood, an option that was immediately abandoned. The first stone was laid in 1492 and the construction site was directed, between about 1495 and 1510, by Filippo Grassi. The works were interrupted in 1512 by the sack of Brescia, to resume only in 1549. The Loggia was completed in 1574 after numerous interventions by the most famous architects of the time, such as Jacopo Sansovino and Andrea Palladio, as well as Lodovico Beretta from Brescia. The latter was responsible for the large windows on the second floor. ARCHITECTURE The white Botticino marble facade of the palace is vertically composed of two distinct architectural sections. In the Read more [...]
Tag: palace in Brescia
Palazzo Maggi-Gambara
Palazzo Maggi-Gambara is a 16th-century palace in Brescia, located between the Capitolium and the Roman Theater. SHORT HISTORY The palace was built at the end of the 12th century on the ruins of the ancient stalls of the Roman Theater by the Maggi family, a noble family from Brescia. In the 17th century, the property passed to the Gambara family. The new owners renovated the palace, and built a new body frescoed with portraits of ancient Romans and trophies of arms. Around the same time, the internal staircase decorated with frescoes and gold stuccos was also built. Starting with 1935, the palace underwent a series of interventions following the investigations carried out on the archaeological Roman site. The palace became the headquarters of the Carabinieri and traffic police barracks until 1956, when it was definitively closed because it was considered unsafe. In the 20th century, the theater was brought to light by demolishing some structures that surrounded it, but the palace which occupies the western part of the auditorium was left intact, as it contained several frescoes of great historical and artistic value. After the restorations completed in 2014, the palace and the Roman Theater were reopened to the Read more [...]
Palazzo Martinengo Palatini
Palazzo Martinengo Palatini is a beautiful palace in Brescia, located in Piazza del Mercato. Built in the 15th century and completely rebuilt at the beginning of the 18th century, is one of the most elegant Baroque palaces of the city. SHORT HISTORY In 1457, Giovanni Martinengo bought a piece of land in the area where the ancient medieval walls were located. With other successive purchases, the family became the owner of the entire space between Piazza delle Erbe, now Piazza del Mercato, Corso Palestro and Via Fratelli Porcellaga. In 1479, the sons of Giovanni were appointed palatine counts by the Emperor Maximilian of Austria, which generated the new family branch of the Martinengo Palatini. One of their descendants, Teofilo, decided to demolish the 15th-century palace and to build a new one. Teofilo began the construction, but never see it finished, dying in the early 18th century. The palace was finally completed by his son, Curzio III, in 1710. With the extinction of the family branch in 1874, the building was donated to the Municipality of Brescia, which set up some offices in the palace, as well as the Musical Institute Venturi, which used the main hall as an auditorium Read more [...]