Monte di Pietà

The new institution of Monte di Pietà was born in Vicenza in 1486, the work of Beato Marco da Montegallo, with the aim of lending money to the needy in exchange for objects left in pawn. Before this date monetary credit had been the domain of Jewish usurers, who were also for this reason chased out of Vicenza in 1485.
The long front of the building is made even more important by the insertion in the centre of the facade of the Church of San Vincenzo. Beneath its loggia, above a pink marble pillar walled up in 1583, the symbols of the official measures of the Magnifica Comunità di Vicenza are still visible: perch, arm, foot, cup, square. The exterior of the building was decorated by Giovan Battista Zelotti between 1556 and 1563; the frescoes on religious subjects, now difficoult to discern, were restored by Domenico Bruschi at the end of 1800.
The structure of the building is the result of various adaptations and renovations of pre-existing buildings. The facade towards Contrà del Monte was executed by Francesco Muttoni in 1703, when the City Library Bertoliana was housed in this wing of the palace before being moved to its present place in Contrà Riale, in the ex-Convent of Saints Philip and James.

Address: Piazza dei Signori