Legate or Farnese Chapel (formerly "Palatine")
This ceremonial chapel was built by the architect Aristotele Fioravanti
in the mid-15th century, during the upgrading work ordered on the palace
by Cardinal Bessarione.
Between 1551 and 1565, upon Cardinal Legate Girolamo Sauli's will, it
was enlarged by Galeazzo Alessi, also responsible for the outer architectural
façade - originally in sandstone - and covered by a scagliola layering
in the mid-19th century during the restoration of the Farnese hall.
The fresco decoration dates back to 1562, when Pope Pious IV was ruling,
and his representatives in town were the legate Carlo Borromeo and deputy
legate Cardinal Pier Donato Cesi, who ordered and followed the monumental
restoration effort made the in town centre (Archiginnasio Palace, arcade
of Ospedale della Morte, Banchi palace, Neptune Fountain).
The artist who painted the fresco cycle (only fragments remains now) with
Stories of the Virgin's Life was Prospero Fontana, at the time a leading
painter of the "Mannerism" school in Bologna and Rome.
Today's layout is the result of the town's events throughout the centuries: the 17th-century restoration ordered by Cardinal Girolamo Farnese; the unsuitable use as archive and storage in Napoleon's period and in the 19th century, until the last restoration in 1992.
Text by Carla Bernardini and Gilberta Franzoni
(Musei Civici d'Arte Antica - www.comune.bologna.it/iperbole/MuseiCivici)
