Palazzo Vincentini, Mannerist palace in Rieti, Italy

Palazzo Vincentini is a three-story palace on Piazza Cesare Battisti in Rieti, now housing the prefecture. Its Renaissance facade has a rusticated portal flanked by four barred windows, and five cornice-framed windows per upper floor, the central one with a small balcony and a broken pediment bearing the family coat of arms. The side facing the cathedral has a two-order loggia of serliane.

The palace was built in the late 1500s when architectural tastes were shifting from strict Renaissance rules toward more experimental Mannerist approaches. This transition marked a period when architects felt free to bend classical conventions and create more inventive designs.

The name Casa Poiana survives from the Poiani, lords of Piediluco, who owned the building before Marco Antonio Vincentini bought it in 1589. The garden beside the cathedral was private until 1927, when the Vincentini sold the palace to the new province of Rieti; the boundary wall came down in 1929 and a wrought-iron gate by the Rieti craftsman Catini, to a design by engineer Mazzoni, replaced it.

The building sits in the heart of Rieti's old district and is easy to spot from the street. Today it houses provincial offices, so interior access is typically not available, but you can see the full facade and exterior details clearly from the public areas nearby.

The hanging garden beside the palace rests on brick vaults built after 1589, when Marco Antonio Vincentini replaced a small vegetable plot with a raised garden reaching the cathedral square. It stayed private behind a high wall until 1927, when the Vincentini sold the palace to the new province of Rieti; the wall came down in 1929 and a Catini-made iron gate, designed by engineer Mazzoni, took its place.