MANDELLI PALACE

It is one of the most interesting buildings in Piacenza and covers the area at the intersection of Via S. Marco with Via Borghetto. Today it is the headquarter of Banca d’Italia.
The palace was built by Mandelli family, whose origins lie in Lombardy to move in Piacenza in 1361 with Pietro. He was a captain of the Visconti army from Milan and further elected podesta of the city; around the mid 18th century the family decided to rebuild their house using an area they already owned.
After the extinction of the family (1826), the building at first became house of dukes and in 1913 base for the Banca d’Italia. Francesco Tomba from Sarmato, father to Lotario the architect, was certainly the master mason of the building that presents itself with a wide façade (75 m) and corner and middle areas well defined with mixtilinear balconies on the main floor.
The main façade presents three orders of fenestration, where windows are embellished in the middle order by tympanums with mascarons and volutes.
The window for the balcony above the entrance portal also presents the coat of arms of Mandelli family.
Once in the hall, the largest in Piacenza, one can see it is organized around a complex development of visual directrices, with three equally spaced vaults supported by granite columns decorated with stucco.
From a small rectangular room once reaches the main court, which presents the staircase of honour on the right, with two parallel sets of stairs separated by a dark marble balaustrade, within a double-volume environment decorated with two orders of fenestration and stucco. Another interesting room is the main room with late 18th century decorations and the refined windows of the library in the corner.