The Praetorian Palace
The Praetorian Palace is a harmonious and imposing quadrangular building measuring 40 metres on each side, a classic example of renaissance architecture constructed with the local stone, pietra serena and terracotta. The façade and the loggias are decorated with numerous coats of arms. On the ground floor, there are some beautiful rooms with rib-vaulted ceilings among which the Chancellor's Room and the Courtroom, which also contains 17th century frescoes.
Of notable elegance is the internal three-arcade cloister and a central well from where one can admire a singular perspective frame in the north wall. There are small windows protected by grills that let in air and light into the jail. The jail is composed of 9 cells, 2 public cells reserved for civil crimes for petty offenses and 7 segregated cells for serious crimes. Cramped with barrel vault ceilings, these cells contain graffiti, messages and drawings left by the prisoners.
The very unique spiral staircase inspired by Leonardo da Vinci is constructed in sandstone or arenite segments and works its way vertically in a double helicoid with a single central pin, and leads to the segregated cells.
The palace is also the headquarters of the Museum of Man and his Environment, which is divided into 25 rooms with a section for ethnography and archaeology.
Local Office of Terra del Sole
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