The Palazzo Comunale looks onto the square of the same name (Piazza del Comune) opposite the Bishop’s Palace (Palazzo Arcivescovile). The origins of the building date to the 13th century, but what you see today is the result of renovations and reconstruction works carried out in the 1700s; the only part remaining from the 1200s is the tall tower.
A strong earthquake seriously damaged the building in 1703. It was restored with decorations on both sides: on the north side, the decorations were done by the architect Pietro Ferrari between 1784 and 1786, whereas the southern side, the one looking onto the Piazza del Comune, was decorated by Spoleto architect Francesco Angelo Amadio, called ‘Lo Scheggino’, beginning in 1782.
In the modern age, the adjacent Palazzo Brancaleoni was incorporated into the southern facade and, from 1913, it was embellished with decorations by local artists Giuseppe Moscatelli e Benigno Peruzzi. These artists also decorated numerous rooms inside the palace with paintings and sculptures: the Dukes’ Hall (Sala dei Duchi) with portraits on the ceiling of the most important Lombard dukes of Spoleto; the Sala Caput Umbriae, in which all the most illustrious citizens of the city in history are represented; and, finally, the Chapel of San Ponziano.
The interiors of the building also house important works of art that were transferred from the former Pinacoteca Comunale, for example a large painting by Guercino and two Renaissance frescoes by “Spagna” (the painter Giovanni di Pietro). The building is now the seat of the current Municipal Art Gallery.