Pisa Museo Aperto

Location(s)

Palazzo Mosca, which stands on the Lungarno Gambacorti, was built at the beginning of the 1300s. In this case we know the date when the building was contracted, from documentation still preserved today: March 29th 1302. The owner, Mosca da Sangimignano, and the contractor, Gerardo da Firenze, came to an agreement on the building works.

From an analysis of the plan of the modern Palazzo Mosca, the existence of at least ten different main sections stands out, these were separated by an alley from the buildings of Palazzo Gambacorti, now headquarters of the Commune of Pisa. Initially these main sections were detached, but over time other buildings grew up beside them, until all the empty spaces had been built over. Over time the Mosca family purchased all these buildings and started to turn them into a single palazzo. But still in the 1500s, in the place where today the palazzo rises, there were many detached houses. This palazzo, with its final appearance, dates back to the beginning of the 1600s, when major reclamation works were undertaken.

The palazzo clearly represents the power, the wealth and the prestige of the family, which was one of the major noble families in Pisa. Its wealth, as that of the Alliata family, the Gambacorti and of many other families in Pisa, came from maritime commerce, mostly during the 1200s and the 1300s.  For many years they had lived in the Chinzica district, near the church of Santa Cristina, and they inherited in the middle of the 1500s the buildings in Pisa and in the surrounding areas owned by Giovanni del Mosca, who lived and died in Palermo. His will was written on November 20th 1543 and mentioned, amongst the other estates, a residence bordering on the Palazzo della Dogana, the Lungarno, the residences of Marquis Malaspina, as well as the workshops owned by Ansilao del Mosca, opposite to the Locanda dell’Olmo. In that same period, Canon Onofrio del Mosca purchased from Marquis Malaspina half of a house next to the building inherited from Giovanni del Mosca from Palermo. In the mid 1500s, the family owned several portions of houses, probably near one another, and all on the Lungarno della Dogana. In the second half of the century the Mosca family planned the building of a new single residence, which would serve to show off their wealth and power. The members of the family were the owners of many houses and workshops situated in the same area of the Lungarno, next to the Customs and the place called alla scala degli aranci (flight of steps of the oranges).