Palazzo Petrignani stands with its imposing facade on the ancient Platea Major, the heart of political and social life in the middle Ages.

Still today, the building is only accessible from the side entrance in Via Duomo, though the unfinished main entrance in Piazza Marconi is still visible.

The palace built in the second half of the 16th century is an interesting example of late Renaissance style construction. Bartolomeo Petrignani was the owner of the Palazzo, although the idea for its construction and funding came from his brother Fantino.

The family experienced a rapid rise thanks above all to the figure of Monsignor Fantino, Archbishop of Cosenza, master of the house of Pope Gregory XIII, vice legate of Bologna, apostolic nuncio to Naples and one of the protectors of the young and famous Italian painter Caravaggio. The works were under the supervision of the papal architect Ottavio Mascarino, a pupil of Vignola, who had served the Petrignani family for 18 years.

Nowadays, only the noble floor, with its 8 rooms frescoed by two different pictorial schools can be visited. The rich decoration of the building responds to a complex pictorial program, aimed at celebrating the glories of the Petrignani family.

The recent attribution of the highly evocative frescoes to the school of Tarquinio Racani, an Amerino painter who also painted frescoes in other palaces and churches in the city, seems more pertinent than the old attribution to the school of Zuccari.

The decorations in the amazing Sala dello Zodiaco include 12 lunettes depicting all the zodiac signs with their corresponding month of the year.

The pictorial decoration follows a pattern common to all the rooms: in the centre we find a large panel with all the historical events that is surrounded by a rich grotesque decoration.

In addition to the amazing Zodiac room, we find the Chapel, the antechapel, the room of Constantine and Maxentius, the Albornoz room, the Heraclius room, the Somaschi room and the Strigonia room.