Palazzo Medici Clarelli

The Sangallo Medici Clarelli Palace was built by Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1483-1546) together with his co-worker Dosio around 1535 as his private residence. On Sangallo’s death, the building was sold to the Florentine Migliore Cresci, as attested by the inscriptions along the five windows of the façade. A rich painted decoration covered the entire façade, carried out between 1559 and 1565 by Cresci and visible up to the end of the 19th century, when the plaster was replaced. From some old prints we know that the façade included the portraits of Giovanni and Giuliano dei Medici and the Medici crest of Pope Clement VII (1523-1534). The only remaining testimony of the Medici family’s glory is the inscription placed above the main entrance and dedicated to Cosimo I, Duke of Florence. In the 17th century the palace was for a time the property of the Consulate of Tuscany, but it then passed to the Marini Clarelli family. Later on it became the seat of a barracks and in 1870 was purchased by Rome’s City Council, which carried out restoration work. It is currently the seat of Rome’s I Municipio (1st administrative constituency). The original façade is flanked by two ashlar bands, and the main entrance also has an ashlar cornice. On either side are large trussed windows covering those of the basement. The windows of the mezzanine have a simple cornice. Above these, and separated by a band are the five architrave windows of the piano nobile (the main storey) and the framed ones of the upper storey. Later on, the façade was extended on the left by another four windows along Sangallo’s original lines. A slightly rising passageway, which makes for a better perspective view, leads on to the portico with a Serliana and the courtyard with an exedra at the rear. A stairway on the right leads to the next floor, where there is a loggia above the portico.