Palazzo Giocosi Mariani

Palazzo Giocosi Mariani represents a perfect union between art and music. This noble building with its valuable frescoes from the second half of the sixteenth century houses the prestigious "Briccialdi" Higher Institute of Musical Studies. Located in the historic centre of Terni, in an area with a medieval layout, it was commissioned in the sixteenth century by Cinzio and Drusiano Giocosi and probably finished in the following century by his nephew Costantino, as the inscription above the right portal suggests. The elegant Renaissance façade, characterized by two decorated portals and three orders of framed windows, is joined by a medieval architectural body with a round arched underpass. Pre-existing are also some wall structures incorporated in the modern construction. After some renovations, the property was acquired by the Mariani family and in the 19th century the building was home to both the Liceo Ginnasio and the city's musical band. The last restoration, completed in the mid-nineties of the last century, restored unity to the interior by reunifying the different parts into which it had previously been divided. The most beautiful halls are the ones on the noble floor for the fine frescoes that decorate them, created by the hands of two Flemish artists, Marten Stella and Gillis Congnet. Here you can admire the "Hall of Olympus", "the Hall of David", "the Hall of Noli Me Tangere" and that of "Moses and Aaron". The decorations of the vault of the first - in whose central square Olympus is painted - are inspired by the work The Metamorphoses of Ovid and present a lively richness of figures and colours. The depictions in landscapes of the episodes taken from the poem are surrounded by imaginary figures . Thus, for example, the representation of the episode of Mercury and Argus is enriched by the presence of creatures such as the winged satyr who plays with his trumpet-shaped nose and the garlanded faun who plays the bagpipes. Some scenes take up the iconographic tradition of the "world upside down", in which the roles in the man-animal relationship are reversed: in this fresco, birds and hares appear around Venus and Adonis holding hunting weapons with their paws, grotesquely become hunters. The other halls have biblical subjects in the central framework of the vault and only the “hall of David” still has the webs, finely painted with river landscapes associaated with the seasons. Rich grotesque paintings embellish the three vaults of the loggia at the top of the entrance staircase.