Municipal Art Gallery

The rooms housing the Art Gallery were once occupied by the Consuls and the Chief Magistrate or Gonfaloniere di Giustizia. The present-day decoration of the rooms with pendentive ceilings, doors and fireplaces is the result of Renaissance refurbishments undertaken when Gubbio was ruled by the Montefeltro and Della Rovere families.
The presence of fountains inside the Palazzo was one of the marvels of the town which already had a public aqueduct in the 14th century, a magnificent work of hydraulic engineering. The octagonal fountain in the centre of Room IV, from which water used to spout, is traditionally identified as the Fons Arenghi, probably moved here from the square in front of the former Palazzo del Popolo now the site of the Pallazzo Ducale.
Of particular interest are the various pieces of inlaid furniture on display in these rooms, most of which date back to the first half of the 16th century and include chairs, wedding chests, cupboards and, most noticeable of all, the enormous walnut refectory table from the Monastery of San Pietro in Gubbio.
The collection was founded when the Town council acquired works after the suppression of the religious orders in the 19th century and is characterised by paintings on wood panel and canvas mainly by artists of the Umbrian School from the late thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
The visit should start with Rooms I, II and III principally containing panel paintings and detached frescoes from the end of the 13th to the beginning of the 16th centuries. Continue through Room IV, the Sala delle Fontane, with works by artists from the district and elsewhere, working here in the 16th and 17th centuries, and terminate in Room V, the Sala delle Udienze, which houses paintings by artists from various Italian Schools between the 17th and 20th centuries.