Palazzo del Monte di Pietà

Palazzo del Monte di Pietà is a medieval palace in Padua, located near the Cathedral of Santa Maria Assunta, on the northern side of Piazza Duomo.

SHORT HISTORY

The palace was built between the 13th and 14th centuries, and it belonged to the famous moneylender Rinaldo Scrovegni. At the beginning of the 14th century, it was destroyed by a fire and subsequently abandoned.

The palace was taken over by the noble family of da Carrara, and with the annexation of Padua by the Republic of Venice at the beginning of the 15th century, the building became the property of the Venetian government.

A fire damaged much of the building in the first half of the 16th century. Doge Andrea Gritti, at the request of the bishop Pietro Barozzi, sold the palace for 10,000 ducats to the Monte di Pietà institution, founded by the Franciscans a few decades earlier to combat usury.

The renovation of the facade was entrusted to the Veronese architect Giovanni Maria Falconetto, who redesigned the building on the basis of the six-arched loggia and the perimeter walls that survived the fire. The headquarters of the Monte di Pietà was inaugurated in 1533, while in the following two years the finishing works were completed.

In 1607, other expansion and restoration works were carried out, especially on the part towards the current Via Monte di Pietà. Among the prestigious decorations added on this occasion, there are the frescoes by Battista Bissoni and Gaspare Giona, as well as a statue made by Giovan Battista Albanese.

In 1822, the property was purchased by the banking institution Cassa di Risparmio. In 1861, two new internal wings were built, which gave the palace its current proportions.

In 1990, important restoration works were carried out on the palace, which reinforced its structure and highlighted the original aspects of the reconstruction of the 16th century and the extension of the 17th century.

HOW TO GET THERE

Palazzo del Monte di Pietà is located about 1.8 kilometers from the Padua railway station. The closest bus stop, Duomo, is right in front of the palace, on the bus Line U02. To find the palace on foot, use the map below.