Palazzo Manzoni, Historical palace in Piazza Morlacchi, Perugia, Italy
Palazzo Manzoni is a three-story building in Piazza Morlacchi featuring a formal facade framed by travertine columns and decorative brick pilasters. The interior contains a barrel-vaulted corridor leading to the main staircase, with a secondary entrance opening to an atrium decorated with 19th-century ornamental details.
Construction of this building took place between 1681 and 1703 under the Aureli family, who consolidated several earlier structures including a 15th-century house and Palazzo Saracini into one unified work. The University of Perugia acquired the property in 1960 and converted it into academic space for the Department of Letters and Languages.
On the third floor, a room now used by the Art History section holds a fresco frieze from the early 17th century. Its panels show episodes from Torquato Tasso's Gerusalemme liberata, with allegorical figures drawn from Cesare Ripa's Iconologia.
The building remains an active university facility with spaces dedicated to teaching and research, so visitor access to certain areas may be limited. It is best to plan a visit during quieter times and check ahead to learn which rooms or corridors are open to the public.
The architrave of the secondary entrance on Via del Verzaro bears the inscription "PAX HUIC DOMUI", while the main portal carries "VNIVERSITA' DEGLI STUDI" above its balcony. The older squared travertine doorway, once topped by two ribbons rising from a leaf crown, was probably meant to hold a coat of arms that is no longer there.
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