Brancaleoni Palace

The history of Piobbico is intimately connected to the history of the Brancaleoni family whose palace of the same name is a symbol of the town and its history. Walking up the hill to the palace, you reach the square where the clock tower stands, which rests on a pointed arch vault dating back to 1200. After walking through the gateway under the clock tower, you find yourself in the Courtyard of San Carlo also called “Piazza Pubblica”. Here the majestic and regal portal with rusticated stones (entrance of honour to the palace) rises, from which you access the open-air corridor surmounted by the family coat of arms: the Rampant Lion with a seated cross with the family motto in Greek characters “mild and proud” and the year of construction in Roman numerals 1587. To the left of the entrance of honour with portal is the Oratory of San Carlo Borromeo, continuing further to the left opens the “Via Pubblica” which leads to the third and last internal courtyard. From inside the courtyard you can see the clock from behind with its numbers and mechanism in anti-clockwise.

The octagonal Church of San Carlo, built in the 17th century, is rich in decorations, stuccos and, in the dome, frescoes depicting scenes from the life of the Saint, the theological and cardinal virtues. Beyond the portal with rusticated stones with two lateral slits, you can access the noble floors of the Palace through a long open-air corridor with a graceful loggia at the end. The construction of the most sumptuous and artistic part of the Palace is thanks to Count Antonio II: the Noble Apartment, which subsequently leads to the Courtyard of Honour, with a portico and columns with Doric capitals. On the upper floor is the “Sala del Leon d’Oro” because the Brancaleoni coat of arms in gilded stucco stands out in the centre of the vault.

To the right of the Hall of the Golden Lion is the so-called “Greek Room”, the room of Count Antonio II, frescoed with episodes of Greek history and mythology (1585), while to the left is the so-called “Roman Room”, the countess’s room.
The west wing of the palace is characterised by the so-called “Fuga di stanze”, where the rooms placed in succession and separated by a simple door, allow you to see the entire length of 150 metres with its 11 rooms at a glance.

After crossing the west wing, you arrive at the second internal courtyard, and since this is the oldest part, it is characterised by thick walls, “wolf mouth” windows, narrow openings, and the atrium with the well. In this service courtyard, next to the cistern, a vaulted walkway opens up that leads to the ancient castle, where the prisons were, to the “porta succursi”.
The Brancaleoni Civic Museum, housed inside the Castle, is made up of various sections: Local Customs and Traditions, Speleology, Geo-Paleontology, Ornithology, Numismatics and Archaeology.