Palazzo da Mosto

23 October 2025 EditoreRotary

Palazzo da Mosto is an imposing fifteenth-century palace overlooking Via Mari and Via Dante.

Historical Notes

Palazzo da Mosto was built between 1488 and 1495 by order of Francesco da Mosto, ducal farmer, responsible for tax collection for the Este family. The palace stood in a secluded part of the city, away from the commercial streets, in the San Pietro district. This area of the city had been designated, since the 13th century, as a convent for the Mendicant religious orders. The palace was not far from the Hospital of Santa Maria Nuova, built in 1374, and the Carmelite convents of Corpus Domini and San Marco.

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After some transformations in the seventeenth century and the purchase by the governor Giovan Battista de Mari in 1750, in the second half of the nineteenth century, the complex was used as a nursery school, at the behest of Pietro Manodori, president of the Monte di Pietà.

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The Architecture

Today, Palazzo da Mosto overlooks Via Mari and Via Dante, joining a series of houses on the southern side and the 20th-century building known as “delle Ancelle” to the north. The façade and side feature a sequence of rectangular windows on two floors, with terracotta frames still visible on the north side. The building is crowned by a cornice with a terracotta frieze featuring a vine scroll, originally painted, shields with male heads, and the da Mosto family coat of arms.

Particolare del fregio con clipei con teste virili — Particolare del fregio con i clipei con teste virili.

The entrance to the building is provided by an arched door, with smooth jambs, strip cornices and capitals decorated with dentils, ovals and half daisies.

At the northeast corner of the building, beneath the terminal frieze, a sandstone lion with outstretched paw and a heraldic plaque was inserted, but it was destroyed during an air raid in 1944.

Entering the building, the entrance hall, covered with cross vaults, leads to a courtyard with a shrine originally painted with an architectural perspective.

The counterfaçade leads to the double loggia with a grand staircase leading to the piano nobile.

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The Interior

The Four Ground Floor Rooms

In the four connecting rooms on the ground floor, you can admire a long decorative cycle with mythological themes. In the first room, you can recognize Vulcan in his workshop, Venus with Cupid, Pomona, the Roman goddess of fruit, with a sickle in her hand, Pan with his bagpipe, Silvanus, god of the forests and the countryside, and Vertumnus, who presides over the ripening of fruit.

In the second room, the frieze continues with representations of Apollo on the sun chariot, perhaps heading towards Python, the dragon-serpent who protected the oracle of Delphi, and a she-bear surrounded by stars, recalling the myth of Callisto and the Great Bear. Then, Jupiter, Mercury in flight, and the long narrative of the myth of Proserpina.

In the third room, the frieze depicts knights, a battle between Christians and Ottomans, warships, a military camp, ox-drawn carts, sheep, and, finally, a crouching woman cooking with a rotisserie.

There are no surviving documents regarding the decorative cycle on the ground floor of Palazzo da Mosto. Critics believe it dates back to the 16th century, suggesting the artist was Giovanni Giarola.

The main floor

The large reception hall and the rooms flanking the north side retain precious coffered ceilings, with heraldic coats of arms and decorations from the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. In one of the northern rooms, the coffered ceiling bears the date 1495.

Aquila simbolo di San Giovanni nel soffitto ligneo — Lion symbol of St. John in the wooden ceiling.

L'uomo nimbato simbolo di San Matteo nel soffitto ligneo di una delle stanze del piano nobile. — The haloed man symbol of Saint Matthew in the wooden ceiling.

Il toro simbolo di San Luca nel soffitto ligneo di una delle stanze del piano nobile. — The bull symbol of Saint Luke in the wooden ceiling.

L'aquila simbolo di San Giovanni nel soffitto di una delle stanze del piano nobile. — The eagle, symbol of Saint John, on the wooden ceiling.

At the end of the 17th century, the palace underwent a series of renovations, including the elimination of the 15th-century loggia, replaced by the monumental hall overlooking the courtyard, and the introduction of late Baroque-style painted decorations.

The monumental staircase, also in Baroque style, dates back to the 18th century.

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Today Palazzo da Mosto is a cultural and exhibition space available to the city.