Palazzo Zoya

Giovanna di Savoia apartment

Palazzo Zoya is the last survivor of an extensive medieval housing consortium bordering Piazza del Duomo. The current building is the result of the merger and expansion of two pre-existing buildings, dating back to the first half of the 1200s. At the end of the thirteenth century the two houses were transformed into a single longitudinal building structure. At the beginning of the 1500s the entire structure was redefined in the internal horizons: the ceilings on the first floor were rebuilt at a higher altitude, thus obtaining an imposing and stately “sala magna”.

During these works, the wooden ceiling was painted with graduated busts and female profiles, and the hall on the main floor was frescoed with satyrs and griffins in a classical style, typical of the time. The apartment is dedicated to Bonifacio Zoya, “doctor of art and medicine”, who bought the building in 1577 and moved his residence here. Certainly after 1577, the illustrious personage began modernization works aimed at making his home more comfortable and “modern”; in particular on the side facing the courtyard he had the beautiful “gallery” built, a porch-loggia with a double order of arches supported by columns bearing the initials BO-ZO of the client on the capitals.