Palazzo dei Priori

The facade fronting the square has a fan-shaped stairway built in 1902, to replace the one with two flights (dating back to the XVII century). It’s supposed in fact that the original one was fan-shaped.[3] The trefoil gothic portal is flanked by two tifore, same as the five above, which have a pinnacle on top. The two on the right were added with the subsequent extension. On the ground floor, there are three asymmetric arches; among them, a pulpit used for the reading of the edicts. Two big shelves above the gothic portal support the copy, in bronze, of the statue of the griffin, symbol of the city and the statue of the Guelph lion;  the originals (now in the entrance hall of the palace) were created in 1274,[4] probably for a vanished fountain by Arnolfo di Cambio.  The chains, which hang from the statue and the iron bar, are the same removed by the soldiers of Perugia from the door of Torrita di Siena, during the Battaglia di Torrita in 1358.[2]

The swollen facade, toward the Corso allows a glimpse of several extensions that have taken place over time. The walls on the first floor are decorated, as well as the facade on the square, by trifore and by two examples of four-light windows, while at the upper floor 19 wonderful trifore with a pinnacle, which combine the colour of the white and pink stones. The Guelph cornice and crenellation surround the extremity of both sides. On the ground floor, the shops substitute the “fondachi” (warehouses) and the artisan workshops. On the right of the portal here still the entrance of Collegio della Mercanzia, occupying part of the palace from 1390, while the Collegio del Cambio is there from 1452.

The Portale Maggiore or Portale delle arti, the dominant element of the building, attributed to local workers, was built in 1346. Rich in sculptural decoration, it is flanked by square pillars that lie on two lions, the one on the left with the allegory of magnanimity, fertility and haughtiness, and the one on the right with the allegory of stinginess, abundance and humility. On top of the pillars, there are two griffins, dominating two calves, symbol of Corporazione dei Macellai (guild of butchers), that paid for it. In the frame of the portal and the arch, there are bas-reliefs representing “Scene della Vita cittadina” (scene of city life). In the lunette, copies of the statue of the saints Lorenzo, Ercolano, Costanzo (or S. Ludovico di Tolosa), patron saints of the city.[5] The style and the size of the portal are in contrast with the palace; for this reason, it’s supposed that originally it was projected for an ecclesiastical building, but later instead it was used for Palazzo dei Priori. On the left side, in the frame of the portal, a figure with a title block, with the writing: “Entra Puro, move securo”(Come thither, be safe).[3]

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  The pulpit
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  The facade toward Corso Vannucci
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  The Portale maggiore
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  A Griffin and a Lion, symbols of the city, decorate the entrance from Piazza della fontana

The inside contains several locations of remarkable interest.

The Sala dei Notari

The Sala dei Notari is located on the north side of the building. Originally it housed the assemblee popolari del libero comune (The people's conferences of the free Municipality) and it was also the offices of the courthouse of the Capitano del popolo. From 1582 it has been the office of the mighty guild of the Notari, from which it takes its name.

Wide location with vaults supported by eight arches decorated with frescoes dating back to the last decades of XIII century,[4] attributed to Maestro del Farneto and to Maestro Espressionista di Santa Chiara,[6] both connected to the frescoes of the church of San Francesco di Assisi, they represent Aesop's fables; legends, biblical stories and maxims. In 1860 the frescoes have been heavily restored by the artist Matteo Tassi from Perugia, who added neo-gothic and eclectic decorations all over the surface, and repainted the emblems of the various podestà and capitani del popolo who succeeded in the government of the city. Two emblems of the magistrates in charge between 1293 and 1297,  frescoed on the counter-facade of the hall, confirm the dating of the construction of the building.[3] Along the perimeter the seats line up, recreated in the  XIX century on the original XVI century models. At the top, on the right wall there was a passage, connecting to  the residence of Capitano del Popolo.

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  Sala dei Notari
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  The 16th century seats along the perimeter of the room
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  Detail
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  The medieval frescoes were realized by local artists

Located in the north side of the building, it is accessible through the stairs on the right of the portal of Sala dei Notari or from inside at the first floor. The room occupies the area of the ancient church of San Severo. The small entrance door has the shutters covered with an iron slab with carved griffin and in the centre two letters, A.G., which means “Armadium Generale”, i.e. the first municipal archive. In the upper part, an inscription of 1339 reports: MCCCXXXVIIII Gilius Rufinelli me fecit ( MCCCXXXVIIII Gilius Rufinelli made me). Before that date, the Dominican friars were those who took care of archive the municipal documents. Inside a gothic structure with a cross vault with ribs. On the vault on the left frescoes representing San Cristoforo, the protector of commercial traffic, and S. Bartolomeo apostolo, who protects the various crafts working with cutting tools. On the back wall a fresco representing a nativity and saints, made by Tiberio d’Assisi (Umbrian school of  XV century) coming from a little rural church. In 2010 a piece of the mannerist Antonio Maria Abbatini from Perugia (1598-1680) was positioned characterized by a large amount of figures in a very little space.

On the first floor the Sala del Consiglio comunale (Municipal Council), which door top exhibits a lunette with a fresco by Pinturicchio, representing the Virgin Mary between two Angels. In this room it is preserved the original Pietra della giustizia (stone of justice) of 1234, which was publicly shown in the main square (Piazza Iv Novembre). In its place, under the Logge di braccio, next to the cathedral, now  a copy can still be seen.

On the third floor, now seat of Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria, the Cappella dei Priori (Priors’s chapel) frescoed between 1454 and 1480 by the “official” artist Benedetto Bonfigli, with the stories of the life of Ludovico di Tolosa, saint of the Franciscan order belonging to D’Angiò lineage, allied of Perugia, and Ercolano di Perugia,[6] defined “Defensor civitatis” (civic defender), therefore patron saint of the city, who protected Perugia from the siege of Totila in 549; the paintings are of extraordinary importance for the description of the urban landscape, a proof of the medieval city, carefully reproduced. The not yet scientific perspective highlights the fabulous and mythological appearance of the events.

Paolino di Giovanni from Ascoli created the backbench of the choirs between 1452 and 1466.[7] The potter Giacomo di Marino, called “il cavalla”, between 1455 and 1457, made the glazed majolica floor, decorated with gothic-floral motifs on a blue background, alternated with flying angels of renaissance style.

For this room the Decemviri, in other words the ten priors in charge of the city, commissioned to Pietro Perugino, the Pala dei Decemviri, an oil painting on board (193x165 cm) datable to 1495-1496. In 1797 the painting, like other hundreds paintings belonging to the church, was confiscated by Napoleon’s troop, by means of the Trattato di Tolentino, as the object of the Spoliazioni Napoleoniche.  In 1815, it was regained by Antonio Canova, and it was located in the Pinacoteca Vaticana in Rome. The cymatium with the Cristo in pietà (87x90 cm) luckily remained in Perugia and now is in the Galleria Nazionale dell’Umbria.

Sala dell'Udienza del Collegio del Cambio

Another important room with an independent entrance on Corso Vannucci, is the room of Udienza del Collegio del Cambio, frescoed between 1498 and 1500 by Perugino, with the help of the pupil Raffaello (by him are the Fortezza and the face of Salomone) and furnished with a great wood bench (Domenico del tasso, 1492-1493) and seats along the walls (Antonio da Mercatello, 1508). The decoration is completed by a terracotta statue, which it is uncertain the realization (maybe of Benedetto da Maiano), representing justice.

The ceiling of Sala del Collegio del Cambio was defined, by Edith Wharton in her "The Decoration of Houses", as one of the three perfect ceilings of the world: «Of all forms of ceiling adornment painting is the most beautiful. Italy, which contains the three perfect ceilings of the world - those of Mantegna in the Ducal palace of Mantua (see Plate XXV), of Perugino in the Sala del Cambio at Perugia and of Araldi in the Convent of St. Paul at Parma - is the best field for the study of this branch of art.[8]»

Sala del Collegio della Mercanzia

The Collegio della mercanzia, located in the second warehouse on the right of the Portale Maggiore, is entirely covered with a late gothic wood decoration.[9]