PALAZZO DELL'ARENGO

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Piazza Cavour has been since the Middle Ages the historical centre of Rimini, in which were performed the administrative and commercial functions and the religious services of the city. In Piazza Cavour stands, among beautiful historical edifices, the Palazzo dell’Arengo, also called Palatium Comunis, i. e. Council Chamber. This noteworthy palace was built about 1204, "al tempo di Madio podestà di Rimini" ("when Madio was podestà of Rimini"), as the marble inscription under the portico indicates. Imposing early Gothic edifice, flanked by a tower rebuilt in its upper part, the Palazzo dell’Arengo shows six rows of lancet arches resting on pillars with varied capitals, which support the upper floor presenting vast arcaded windows and merlons. Palazzo dell’Arengo was the residence of the podestà and the meeting-place of the Grand Council of Rimini. The Palazzo dell’Arengo present-day arrangement derives from the restorations made in 1924 by Gaspare Rastelli, who modified the ground floor, in which today hangs, on the right-hand wall, the precious fourteenth-century fresco depicting the Last Judgement by the anonymous painter called "Maestro dell’Arengo", which once decorated Sant’Agostino Church. On the end wall hangs the sixteenth-century fresco illustrating The Last Supper which once embellished the former Convent of St Francis.