Pisa Museo Aperto

Location(s)

Many Pisan palaces belonging to patrician families have maintained until today their late-medieval structure, assumed since the 14th century, though with some parts altered because of stylistic changes in architecture.

One of the palaces that had preserved most its late-medieval aspect is the 15th century palace of the Astai family, bought in 1496 by Mariano Agostini and since then called “Palazzo Agostini”. The façade with lace-trimmed cotto decoration is unique among Pisan noble families’ palaces. The Astai owned a brick-making factory and most likely the cotto decoration of their palace was produced “at home”.

Originally the palace was composed of three parts: the central one being flanked by two similar houses, one with a double lancet window and the other with a three-mullioned window. The three bodies of the building were later united to form one big palace. The façade decoration was added later on the whole building.
At the beginning of the 19th century the palace was partly restored and deteriorated pieces of the original decoration were substituted with very similar parts.

In the first years of the 19th century at the ground floor was opened the famous “Caffé dell’Ussero” that became the gathering place for well known writers and poets such like Shelley, Byron, Alfieri, Leopardi, Mazzini and Giuseppe Giusti. That’s the reason why the palace was commonly known to the Pisans as “Palazzo dell’Ussero”.

The coffee-shop was frequented also by University students and became the meeting point for intellectuals durint the Italian Risorgimento. It was closed at the end of the 19th century to reopen again in the second decade of the 20th century and it is still in activity today, preserving most of its original elegant style and the memory of its past splendour.