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The thirteenth
was a remarkable century in the history of Perugia. It was a time of awakening, of
the birth of new desire and purpose, of grand-scale communal ambition. It was a true rinascimento
of ideals and conceptions of beauty and grandeur destined to grow into full splendour,
in the later Renaissance. The superb edifice which is now the Palazzo Comunale
began to assume its characteristic form in the 13th century: a worthy home for the
Priors, the Palazzo dei Priori. At this date it was a rectangular
block, having three windows on the Piazza side and ten windows on the east side.
Extensions beyond this were made repeatedly in the 14th and 15th centuries. |
One of the most
spacious and imposing halls in all Italy occupies the whole first floor of this original
part of the building: it is the Sala dei Notari.
Surely the most amazing object to greet us in 1300 in this city is the exquisitely lovely
fountain which sprang from the centre of the square. |
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project of bringing into Perugia the waters of Monte Paciano by aqueduct was mooted
as early as 1254, the actual construction of the Fontana Maggiore was
carried out between 1275 and 1278. The general design and the
superintendence of its execution were inthe charge of the celebrated architect Fra
Bevignate. |
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The sculptural ornament of
the monument was entrusted to the two great Pisan sculptors Nicola Pisano and his son
Giovanni, along with their pupils. Perugia in the 13th century was wakening up to take her
place in the forward march of Italian art. |
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