THE GALLO PALACE

THE HISTORY

The Gallo Palazzo was built around 1520, by a Roman family of the same name, of which, Giuliano Gallo, canon of the Chiesa di S. Lorenzo in Damaso, was a prominent representative as administrator of goods in Bagnaia for the accounts of Raffaele Riario who was the Cardinal of S. Giorgio and Lord of Bagnaia beginning in 1498.

The palazzo was passed on to Rev. Sulpizio Gallo, son of Paolo. Because of inadequate maintenance, the palazzo began to deteriorate. The owner, also looking to be free of his obligation to preserve the town walls – an obligation undertaken in 1540 – gave the city part of the palazzo on October 3, 1571. On March 21, 1576, the remaining part of the palazzo that had not been gifted was sold to the city for 1500 scudi. The palazzo became the headquarters of the municipality. Unfortunately, however, the antique splendor of life during the sixteenth century of the palazzo was no longer present. In the seventeenth century, the City Hall left a large part of the building to transfer offices to the current Palazzo Loggia. After being used as the seat of the district for the Comune of Viterbo, today it is used by the associazione Amici di Bagnaia Arte e Storia. Currently, it is staging a permanent exhibit with reproduction panels of frescoes from the Loggia del Palazzo Ducale. In particular, the observed frescoes were urban views of cities: Naples, Siena, Rome, Florence and a fortified city. Also on exposition are half scale reproductions of the frescoes from the Church of Santo Stefano.

THE EXTERIOR

The Palazzo Gallo is located on the north side of the borgo on Via Malatesta. The structure of the palazzo is expressed with essential lines: the overhang of the two wings and the recess of the façade distinguished by the two soaring ionic columns and the four pilasters that substantiate a delightful architrave loggia with a vaulted wooden ceiling.
The bottom part of the loggia has reddish trace evidence of old decoration, and on the door is a fresco representing the glorification of the cardinal Antonio Barberini, Lord of Bagnaia from 1632 to 1645. At the top of the fresco the following is written: “HORTA EST DIEBUS EIUS IUSTITIA ET ABUNDANTIA.” On the sides are two young women symbolizing the two traits: one woman with a scale, showing justice, the other with a cornucopia, showing abundance. Between them, at the top, is a shield with three bees, symbolizing the Barberini. On the sides are two coats-of-arms: on the left the emblem of the Cornaro family and on the right the emblem of the Farnese family.
The portico is topped by a large coat of arms in peperino stone, depicting the heraldic symbol of the Riario, of whom, the Gallo were always grateful. In the corners of the symbol are rooster heads with two roosters opposite each other in the upper part.

THE INTERIOR

The palazzo was originally a complex of more twenty than areas including halls, salons, rooms, granaries, pantries, servant’s quarters, stables, mills, a pigeon coop and a piazza outside the loggia. Of all of these areas, only two large salons and two smaller rooms remained part of the structure. All of the other areas were absorbed by fragmented buildings used in the time. In the interior of the grand hall is an immense sixteenth century fireplace with the coat of arms of Bagnaia at the top. The walls of this room were completed without decoration. In the next room on the short side to the north is the suffering image of Cristo Crocifisso, painted on the wall. The Crucifixion dates back to the sixteenth century, by an unknown artist, and there is a dark stripe that cuts vertically through the entire work, on the left of Christ. This mark was one of the marks left by construction during the 1950s. Those working on the construction did not pay attention in regards to the artworks. At the bottom left is an area of restoration done by the students of the school of the professor Moro in 2002.
On the wall in from is the image of the Madonna Assunta tra Angeli e i Santi Sebastiano e Millerio the protector of Bagnaia. The Virgin is shown standing, symbolically, on the face of crescent moon.  Under the image of the Madonna is a scroll with the following written: HINC . ….. NOSTRA SALUS.
Along the walls runs a fregio decorated with garlands of fruit, flowers, unicorns, angels and centaurs. The latter frames shields of cardinals, among which we can recognize those of Ridolfi on the north wall, that of Cornaro on the south wall, and that of Riario on the east wall. On the long west side is a classical fifteenth century fireplace topped by the emblem of Cardinal Riario, painted on the hood. The coat of arms is flanked to the left by the emblem of Bagnaia and on the right by that of Gallo. The beams along the perimeter of the ceiling are decorated with candelabras and grottesche. The entire ceiling is decorated with the alternating insignias of the family of Riario and of the family Gallo. In the adjoining room is a fregio with a row of little angels that honor the bishop’s coat of arms that has rampant lions, which is presumed to be that of Bishop Bartolomeo Pipero, who often stayed in Bagnaia, where he died on June 17, 1559.

Translation by Lauren Williamson, Texas A&M University, enrolled in the USAC Viterbo program at the Università degli Studi della Tuscia.

ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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Fonti
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