Discover Palazzo dei Priori, Montalcino

The Palazzo dei Priori is the old town hall of Montalcino, in the province of Siena.

The palace and its tower were built towards the end of the 13th century — probably around the 1280s — and in the early 14th. It was first the Palazzo del Podestà, then the Palace of Justice, with the prisons, and finally the Palazzo Comunale.

At the beginning the lower part was used as a salt store. During the Republic of Siena sheltered at Montalcino it was converted into the seat of the mint. After the town fell under Medici rule the lower part was turned into a loggia, a statue of Cosimo I was placed just outside it, and the tower was raised by some courses of brick — visible to anyone who looks.

Until the end of the 19th century this was where the captain of justice, the judge, the notary and the grand-ducal vicar administered justice. In the 1930s the building was completely restored, with numerous alterations and the reopening of the windows on its two facades. It remained the town hall until a few decades ago, when the municipal seat moved to premises in Piazza Cavour — where the comune still is today.

Its tower, 62 metres high, is known locally as il Campanone.

Good provincial civic architecture whose interest is less in its design than in the alterations politics made to it.

Structure and materials

Predominantly stone, on a polygonal plan — not a rectangle, which in a hill town usually means the building took the shape of the ground and the streets around it. The vertical structures are in pietra forte, the hard sandstone of Tuscan civic building, and the roof is pitched with a brick-tile covering.

The tower

An imposing and slender tower of 62 metres rises from the right-hand side, built in stone and brick. The proportions are the point: height without bulk, which is what a medieval commune wanted from a tower — visible from the whole territory, expensive, and useless for anything but saying so.

It is organised vertically. The lower part carries numerous family coats of arms, including the Medici. The upper part carries, in order, the clock, il Campanone — the great bell that gave the tower its local name — and, at the top, a smaller bell.

The loggia, and what it replaced

The lower part of the building was not originally open. It was a closed ground floor, first a salt store and then the mint, and it was only transformed into a loggia after the town fell under Medici dominion. Opening the ground floor of a town hall into a public arcade and putting a statue of Cosimo I at its mouth is an architectural statement about who the building now answered to.

The heightening

At the same time the tower was raised by some courses of brick, and the source is explicit that this is something we can notice by looking at it. A change of material partway up a stone tower is the most honest kind of historical evidence: nobody intended it to be read, and it cannot be hidden.

What the 1930s did

The building was completely restored in the 1930s, with numerous modifications and the reopening of the windows of the two facades above the loggia. Those two central windows are therefore a 20th-century recovery of an earlier arrangement rather than continuous fabric.

How it meets the town

It faces Piazza del Popolo but is entered from the Costa del Municipio, and extends as far as Piazza Garibaldi, locally called Padella — a building with a public face on one square, a working entrance on a side lane, and a back end on another square.

The fabric went up once and was then repeatedly repurposed, and every change of use left a mark.

Built with its tower, late 13th into early 14th century

The palace and the tower were built together, towards the end of the 13th century — probably around the 1280s — and into the beginning of the 14th. That matters: the tower is not a later addition to a civic palace but part of the original conception, which is why it rises from the building rather than standing beside it.

A closed ground floor: salt, then money

The lower part was built closed and put to storage: a salt store. Salt was a taxed state commodity, so a communal salt warehouse under the Podestà's palace is a revenue building as much as a storehouse.

Then, under the Republic of Siena sheltered at Montalcino between 1555 and 1559, the same space was converted into the seat of the mint. The conversion tells you what the exiled republic needed most and had least: a currency of its own.

Opened up by the victors

After the fall to Medici rule the closed lower part was transformed into a loggia and a statue of Cosimo I was set just outside it. The mint became an open arcade — the most literal possible demonstration that Montalcino no longer struck its own coin.

The tower raised in brick

In the same campaign the tower was heightened by some courses of brick, and the join is still visible. Stone below, brick above: cheaper, quicker, and taller than before.

Justice until the 1890s

No change of fabric, but the longest single use: until the end of the 19th century the captain of justice, the judge, the notary and the grand-ducal vicar administered justice here, with the prisons in the building during its Palace of Justice phase.

Completely restored in the 1930s

The decisive modern intervention: completely restored, with numerous modifications and the reopening of the windows of the two facades. A good deal of what is visible above the loggia is the 1930s' recovery of an earlier state rather than untouched medieval work.

Leaving office

It stayed the Palazzo Comunale until a few decades ago, when the municipal seat moved to Piazza Cavour — confirmed by the comune's own address today, Piazza Cavour 13. After roughly seven centuries of public administration the building finally stopped governing.

Can I go inside or climb the tower?

Nothing reachable publishes any access, hours or ticket for this building, and no source says the tower can be climbed — so this page promises neither. Treat it as an exterior. Everything worth seeing, including the whole tower and the loggia with the Cosimo I statue, is visible from the square.

How tall is the tower, and why is it called il Campanone?

62 metres, in stone and brick, rising from the right-hand side of the building. The Montalcinesi call it il Campanone after the great bell it carries — which sits in the upper part between the clock below it and a smaller bell at the very top.

What was the mint?

The ground floor. The lower part of the building began as a salt store, and during the Republic of Siena sheltered at Montalcino — the exiled state that held out here between Siena's surrender on 17 April 1555 and Montalcino's own on 31 July 1559 — it was converted into the seat of the mint.

Why is there a statue of Cosimo I on Montalcino's old town hall?

Because the Medici won. After the town fell under Medici dominion the closed lower part of the building was turned into a loggia, a statue of Cosimo I was placed just outside it, and the tower was raised by some courses of brick. The former mint of a republic that had resisted him became an open arcade with his statue in it.

Can you really see where the tower was heightened?

Yes — the source says plainly that it is something we can notice by looking at it. Find the point partway up where the masonry changes from stone to the added brick courses. Raking early or late light shows it best.

How old is it, and what was it used for?

The palace and tower were built towards the end of the 13th century — probably around the 1280s — and into the early 14th. It was first the Palazzo del Podestà, then the Palace of Justice with the prisons, and finally the Palazzo Comunale. Until the end of the 19th century the captain of justice, the judge, the notary and the grand-ducal vicar administered justice here.

Is it still the town hall?

No. It remained the Palazzo Comunale until a few decades ago, when the municipal seat moved to premises in Piazza Cavour — and the comune's own address today is Piazza Cavour 13.

Where is the entrance?

Not where you expect. The building faces Piazza del Popolo but is entered from the Costa del Municipio, and it extends back as far as Piazza Garibaldi, which locals call Padella.