Ancient Palace of the Bishops

The Ancient Palazzo dei Vescovi, located in Piazza del Duomo in Pistoia, has been attested since 1091. Initially a fortified residence, in the 12th century it acquired the appearance of a stately home. Among the many features, the building houses the sacristy of San Jacopo, built between 1163 and 1170, in which the theft of Vanni Fucci narrated by Dante in the XXIV canto of the Inferno took place. In the 16th century the palace achieved a remarkable elegance but began to reveal itself lacking in service rooms, so much so that the bishop Scipione de' Ricci obtained permission from the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo to build a new bishop's palace. In the following decades, it was sold to private individuals and was profoundly remodeled, increasing the number of internal floors and heavily modifying the facades. In 1976 the Cassa di Risparmio di Pistoia e Pescia began a complex restoration of the building completed in 1980, with the recovery of most of the structures and the original appearance.

Today, owned by the Caript Foundation, the Palace is one of the top points of the Pistoia Museums Foundation, dedicated to ancient and modern art. The Palace houses several sections: the equipped Archaeological Path , the Museum of the Cathedral of San Zeno, the Bigongiari Collection, the Millefiori Tapestry, a Pomona by Marino Marini, the Mural Temperas by Giovanni Boldini, the Tactile Museum: the city to touch.