Palazzo degli Alberti


Palazzo degli Alberti is a historical building in the center of Prato, Tuscany, central Italy. Originally the seat of Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, it long housed the bank’s most important art collection. In 2013 it was reported that Banca Popolare di Vicenza moved most of the collection to Vicenza after the liquidation of Cariprato.
The former owner of Cariprato, Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, continued to use the building as its headquarters. Since 2022 the building — now owned by Intesa Sanpaolo — hosts the reopened Galleria di Palazzo degli Alberti, a public museum displaying many of the historic artworks.

History

The palace originated in the 13th century, as evidenced by traces of loggiati and openings in its façade, dating from that period and made of pietra alberese, a kind of Tuscan limestone.
The current appearance of the façade is from later restorations, performed in the late 15th-early 16th centuries. Features from this period include the portal, the windows and the two decorative frames. At the palace's corner is a stone coat of arms of the Bardi di Vernio family, to which, among the others, belonged Cosimo de' Medici's wife, Contessina de' Bardi.
In 1870, the Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, founded in 1830, moved its headquarters to the palace. The following year, the building was restored and enlarged, reaching its present size.
During 2020, the Intesa Sanpaolo separated the entrance to the bank branch and the entrance to the exhibition space. After further restoration and renovation, in 2022, the building was reopened as Galleria di Palazzo degli Alberti, a public museum with artworks including parts of the former bank's art collection.

Art gallery

Palazzo degli Alberti currently houses the art gallery of the Cassa di Risparmio di Prato, with the most famous work of the collection being The Crowning with Thorns, attributed to Caravaggio.
The bulk of the collection is formed by Tuscan Baroque paintings from the 17th-18th century: the artists represented include Matteo Rosselli, Jacopo Vignali, Giovanni Battista Vanni, Francesco Furini, Giovanni Bilivert, Carlo Dolci, Cesare, Vincenzo and Pietro Dandini, Justus Sustermans by a young Filippo Lippi, a Crucifixion by Giovanni Bellini, as well as works by Santi di Tito. There is also a sculpture group by the Pratese artist Lorenzo Bartolini.