The Ancient Benedictine Abbey of San Pietro
Palazzo Stocchi, formerly Seppi-Bassardini-Isidori
Home to the University of Perugia since 1810, Palazzo Murena belongs to a former Olivetan complex (the Monte Morcino Nuovo monastery) designed in 1740 by architect Carlo Murena. Luigi Vanvitelli was however responsible for the project of the adjacent church. The long corridor leading to the main staircase houses a collection of plaster casts (circa 400) depicting Etruscan inscriptions. This collection was commissioned by Count Giancarlo Conestabile della Staffa (1824-1877), professor of Archaeology at the Studium of Perugia after Giovan Battista Vermiglioli.
The Palazzo, now the Department of Languages, Literature and Ancient and Modern Civilization, was built, in its current configuration in the early eighteenth century. At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the Aureli family, who were the owners of a building overlooking Piazza Morlacchi, decided to add an extension to the back of the building, in a north-easterly direction. They bought the ancient building of the Saracini family, which was accessed from Via Verzaro, and joined it to their property. Inside the building was an important art collection which included, among other things, a magnificent painting by Perugino, depicting the Madonna and Child with two cherubs. The painting is now owned by the Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Perugia. The Palazzo passed from the Aureli family to the Alfani family, then to the Ansidei family and, finally to the Manzoni family. Opposite the Palazzo were the stables, corresponding to the building that today houses the Humanist Library.
Built in the 18th century, the north side of the Palazzo is against a stretch of the Etruscan walls, the only part that is visible from inside, which continues under the current Piazza Ermini and Via Verzaro, as a continuation of the walls along Via Cesare Battisti. It was bought by the Marchesa Marianna Florenzi Waddington in around 1840 (1802-1870), who held a famous literary salon, frequented by Italian and foreign intellectuals. Today it houses of Dipartimento di Filosofia, Scienze Sociali, Umane e della Formazione.
Il complesso benedettino di San Pietro in Perugia, realizzato sul monte Caprario a partire dal 965, è il risultato di modifiche e aggiunte succedutesi attraverso i secoli. Superato l’arco di ingresso s’incontra il primo chiostro, composto da sedici colonne in travertino e quattro di granito, progettato dall’architetto Valentino Martelli. La costruzione ebbe inizio nel 1614 e fu condotta a termine solo nel 1705 dall’architetto Lorenzo Petrozzi. In prossimità della base del campanile, elegante e slanciata struttura che caratterizza da meridione lo skyline della città, si trova l’ingresso alla basilica. L’interno, sontuoso per la ricchezza degli arredi, contiene opere di alto pregio artistico a cominciare dai grandi teleri di Antonio Vassillacchi detto l’Aliense, veneziano di adozione, seguace di Veronese e Tintoretto. Da segnalare, inoltre, dipinti di: Benedetto Bonfigli, Perugino, Eusebio da San Giorgio, Orazio Alfani, Giovan Battista Lombardelli, Benedetto Bandiera e Giovan Battista Salvi detto il Sassoferrato. Costui, attivo per la comunità monastica fra gli anni trenta e gli anni quaranta del Seicento, realizzò ben quattordici tele in parte conservate in chiesa, in parte nel Museo. Tornati nel primo chiostro, dominato dalla mole del campanile che fu edificato nel Duecento su preesistenze romane e completato nel 1463 su progetto di Bernardo Rossellino, attraverso un lungo corridoio si giunge al secondo chiostro o chiostro del Capitolo o del Pozzo. Progettato da Francesco di Guido di Virio da Settignano, questo chiostro, di sobria ma elegante fattura rinascimentale, presenta al centro una vera in travertino realizzata da Galeotto di Paolo nel 1530. Superato il secondo chiostro, si giunge all’antico refettorio. Lo spazio antistante accoglie un lavabo la cui mostra, in terracotta invetriata, è notevole opera del fiorentino Benedetto Buglioni (1487-1488). Il terzo chiostro o chiostro delle Stelle, progettato da Galeazzo Alessi, fu realizzato nel 1571. Da questo chiostro si accede all’Orto Medioevale, area naturalistico-botanica di grande interesse. Oggi il gigantesco complesso è in parte abitato dai benedettini e in parte occupato dal Dipartimento di Scienze Agrarie, Alimentari e Ambientali. Qui hanno sede anche gli uffici della Fondazione per l’Istruzione Agraria (FIA) e la direzione del Centro di Ateneo per i Musei Scientifici (C.A.M.S.).
The Palazzo, built between the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century, was extended and modified by Corniolo della Corgna about a century later, and perhaps the valuable interior decoration is also thanks to him, unfortunately only partially conserved. At the end of the nineteenth century, when the Palazzo was owned by the Bassardini-Seppi family, most of the frescoes were illegally removed and immediately sold to the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest, where they can still be found. Sold to the State by the Stocchi family, the last owners of the building, the Palazzo now houses the Anthropological section of the Department of Philosophy and Social, Human and Learning Sciences.
Along the central Via Mazzini, transverse to Corso Vannucci, is Fernando Lolli’s Barber Shop, a "cabinet of perfumes painted by Napoleone Verga in 1858, with elegance and good taste". Here the artist, a talented miniaturist who first studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia, followed by the San Luca Academy in Rome, depicted the Triumph of Venus framed by neo-fourteenth-century decorations. The Barber’s Shop, today owned by the University of Perugia, houses an information point for the University.
The mosaic, located in Via Pascoli, in the former university Faculty of Mathematical, Physical and Natural Sciences, is one of the most important Roman monuments in the city. Dating back to between the late first- early second century AD, the mosaic depicts Orpheus taming wild beasts with his singing. The mosaic, once part of the public baths, is outside the Etruscan walls, in an urban area full of watercourses. It was discovered accidentally in 1875, during the restoration of the St. Elisabeth Church, built on the site in the Middle Ages.
