A major lakeside town, Iseo still preserves numerous examples of authentic urban archaeology in its streets. Despite numerous reconstructions, particularly in the last century, its architecture, more than any other town on Lake Iseo, displays a medieval urban fabric, with clearly legible walls, like veritable open books, capable, thanks to proper stratigraphic analysis, of revealing their historical evolution.<\/p>\n
This fascinating architectural complexity is well represented by the Palazzo dell’Arsenale, a highly stratified building located in the historic center of Iseo, at the intersection of Piazza Statuto and Via Sombrico: a district that, by far, preserves the largest number of still-visible medieval walls. The building, perhaps identified with the honorable building that belonged to the noble Rampinelli family, now houses an important exhibition space, but its history and its various uses are suggested by its masonry.<\/p>\n
The fact that the building’s original core was erected near the market square and a short distance from the lake suggests its use as a commercial building, for storing goods. Built between the 12th and 13th centuries, the palace features two very different street-facing elevations: the southern elevation, overlooking Via Sombrico, features the most interesting stratification, which accounts for the uneven appearance of the openings and masonry. The ground-floor portico is composed of five round arches of unequal size, opening directly into the masonry, devoid of architectural order and resting on a massive stone jamb. The openings on the upper floors are the result of chronologically different interventions: the two windows with segmental round arches, visible on the left, are in fact contemporary with the ground-floor arches, whose profiles they echo. The two openings on the right, with their more soaring profile and pointed arches, decorated with terracotta friezes, demonstrate an update in style to the canons of the late Gothic style and are part of a renovation of the palace that took place between the 14th and 15th centuries. During this unspecified period, the palace underwent a conversion for residential purposes. This renovation resulted in the west fa\u00e7ade, with an elegant open portico consisting of four pointed arches, corresponding to a portico overlooking the internal garden, an essential element of medieval stately homes. The palace, like all stately homes in the area, must have also received significant pictorial decoration, of which the only faint trace is a fresco depicting a female figure and boats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":778,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","categorie_arte":[435],"comuni":[162],"class_list":["post-5165","arte_e_cultura","type-arte_e_cultura","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","categorie_arte-historical-buildings","comuni-iseo"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n