Palazzo Vescovile

This is a palace built for power, and its brick façade speaks in the formal language of the late eighteenth century. Two storeys are marked by a double order of pilasters, their slight rotation, outward at ground level, inward above, creating a subtle, architectural tension. The central balcony, supported on columns with composite capitals, carries an inscription naming Bishop Foschi and the year 1775, a precise claim to patronage.

Beyond the entrance hall, with its groin-vaulted ceiling and frescoed coat of arms, lies the true surprise: an elegant, semi-oval internal courtyard. Two splendid staircases rise to the upper floor, each terminating in a loggia of wide arcades. The right leads to the Diocesan Museum, the left to the Bishop’s apartments. It is a fine, functional division of sacred and secular space, articulated with a grace that is more courtly than ecclesiastical.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.