Overview
The building houses the City Museum of Ancient Art, visiting it, you discover that two greats of the Italian 20th century, sculptor Marino Marini and architect-urbanist Giovanni Michelucci, were from Pistoia. A sculpture by Marini, theMiracle, fills the inner courtyard of the 13th-century complex, while the mezzanine houses the drawings and models of the documentation centre dedicated to Michelucci. At this height, the view of the cathedral square is spectacular.
The actual museum collections are the largest in the city, the result of salvaging pieces found in abolished churches and convents and important private donations. Hundreds of paintings, sculptures and pieces of applied art document Pistoia's artistic history from the 12th to the 20th century, tracing a history in which the various historical phases of dependence on or autonomy from Florence left room for the formation of local art schools: the 14th-century gold collections and the Sacred Conversations of the early 16th century are very significant in this regard.
With regard to the Palace, it had begun to be built at the end of the 13th century and has never ceased to house the city authorities ever since. The 14th-century extensions were particularly important, while in the 17th century the bridge connecting with the cathedral was added: you can see it from the square. The façade with its portico, double and triple lancet windows has an undeniable elegance.
