Palazzone di Cortona

The monumental villa, situated in Cortona, a città d'arte of the Val di Chiana, and built between  1521 and 1527, was designed by the architect and poet Giovan Battista Caporali, a disciple of  Perugino and a friend of artists of the time such as Pinturicchio, Bramante and Signorelli; it was commissioned by Cardinal Silvio Passerini, Bishop of Cortona and governor of Florence.
The villa, the architecture of which recalls the style of the Romanesque-city state period, is surmounted by an imposing tower, surrounded by a crenellated wall and adorned with a large lawned   vertical garden  and with a delicate Italian-style garden. In its interior, notable among the many evocative rooms are the Salone del Papacello, frescoed with the Roman histories, and the small chapel with its frescoes of the Baptism of Christ by Luca Signorelli.
In 1968 the villa was donated by Count Lorenzo Passerini to the Normale for carrying out its  teaching and cultural activities. The Palazzone is host to numerous events of national and international significance: university orientation courses, congresses and scientific summer schools of a high cultural level, organised also in convention with other university and research institutions.
In addition to the historical rooms dedicated to congresses and the various rooms equipped for  teaching activities, the Palazzone offers its guests accommodation in 12 double en suite rooms and the use of a large breakfast room on the floor where the rooms are situated.