Ducal palace of Sassuolo

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The Ducal Palace in Sassuolo is a masterpiece of Northern-Italian early baroque villa architecture located in the town of Sassuolo, near Modena.

[edit] History

The palace was built on the site of a medieval castle or rocca. The castle was obtained by Niccolò III d'Este from the Della Rosa family in the 15th century.

The exterior facade seems to reference Tuscan villas more than those of the Veneto. In the mid-1500s, the first pleasure summer villa was built on the site. In the early 17th century, the Duke Francesco I d'Este initially commissioned the building of the present structure by the architect Bartolomeo Avanzini. Over the centuries, the palace has had many owners, but is now owned by the town.

The palace is best known for it highly decorated interior frescoes by the french artist Jean Boulanger and its gardens and fanciful Peschiera or fish-tank. The latter was designed by Cavalli, and was originally a large rectangular big "pool" surrounded by a boundary wall in the form of a ruined amphitheater, and is called familiarly the "Fontanazzo" (Rough Fountain).

Restoration of the piano nobile has allowed its use for art exhibitions.