Palazzo Spannocchi, Siena, Renaissance palace in Piazza Salimbeni, Siena, Italy

Palazzo Spannocchi is a three-story Renaissance palace on Piazza Salimbeni, built in 1473 to a design by Florentine architect Giuliano da Maiano. Its smooth stone facade has mullioned windows with round arches on the second floor and a solid projecting cornice near the roofline, set with busts putatively of Roman emperors. The interior courtyard, remodelled by Giuseppe Partini in 1880, keeps original capitals and loggias and since the 1970s has housed the bank's counter hall.

Ambrogio Spannocchi, a merchant who served as treasurer to Pope Pius II, commissioned architect Giuliano da Maiano in 1473 to build this palace for his prominent family. The construction occurred during an era when wealthy merchants in Siena sought to display their economic power through impressive architecture.

The busts on the roofline cornice are traditionally identified as Roman emperors, a sculptural ornament that sets the palace apart from Siena's Gothic buildings. The palace faces Piazza Salimbeni, where Tito Sarrocchi's 1882 statue of the Sienese scholar Sallustio Bandini stands; the square was reformulated in the 19th century by removing the garden that had stood before Palazzo Spannocchi.

The palace stands on Piazza Salimbeni, reached on foot from Via Banchi di Sopra in the Terzo di Camollia. The square was reworked in the 19th century, when the garden in front of the palace was removed; the statue of Sallustio Bandini by Tito Sarrocchi (1882) now occupies it. The building houses offices of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena, so the interior courtyard is not freely visited.

The palace's inner courtyard kept its original capitals and loggias through Giuseppe Partini's 1880 restoration, and since the 1970s it has served as the counter hall of the Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena. The garden that once stood in front of the building was removed when the square was reworked in the 19th century.