Palazzo Cesi, Renaissance palace in Acquasparta, Italy

Palazzo Cesi stands on the site of Acquasparta's old fortress, on the piazza of the same name. Built in the late Renaissance around 1579 to a design of 1561 from Vignola's school, it is arranged with the square and a loggia along one side. Inside, the ground floor frescoes draw on Ovid's Metamorphoses, while the piano nobile has carved coffered ceilings and a reception hall with a Cesi coat of arms flanked by two Victories.

The Cesi family bought the fief of Acquasparta from Pier Luigi Farnese and built the palace on the site of the destroyed castle. The design dates to 1561 and came from Vignola's school, Guidetto Guidetti and then Giovan Domenico Bianchi; the building was finished around 1579, the year Federico I Cesi married Olimpia Orsini. In 1609 Federico Cesi re-founded the Accademia dei Lincei there, and he died in the palace on 1 August 1630.

The ground-floor frescoes, painted in 1579 by Giovan Battista Lombardelli, draw on Ovid's Metamorphoses. On the piano nobile, carved coffered ceilings are attributed to a design by Giovanni Domenico Bianchi, possibly modelled on those of Palazzo Farnese in Rome. The main hall's friezes show Hercules, trophies, cherubs, masks and a large Cesi coat of arms held by two Victories.

The palace stands on the piazza of the same name in Acquasparta, on the site of the old rocca. Since 2013 it has belonged to the comune, which runs a programme of reuse and enhancement with the University of Perugia, so access to the interior depends on cultural events and guided openings rather than fixed daily hours. The loggia on one side of the building can be seen from the square.

The palace's name is tied to the Accademia dei Lincei, which Federico Cesi re-established here in 1609 after founding it in Rome in 1603. Galileo Galilei was hosted in the building between 1618 and 1624, the years when the fresco decoration was completed.