Among the prominent buildings in the city of Foligno is Palazzo Trinci, whose current form is the result of construction works carried out by Ugolino Trinci. The local family of lords controlled the fate of the city from 1305 to 1439; as attested by the stele or stone slab showing the figures of Love and Psyche (amore e psiche), one of the marble statues collected by the family during their rule of the city, the elaborate works on their mansion were done between 1389 and 1407. In those years Ugolino Trinci III bought a number of buildings belonging to a wealthy merchant Giacomo Cicarelli de Zitelli that bordered on the houses already inhabited by the Trinci family.
The palace is built around a large main courtyard and two smaller ones. In the courtyard with the well there was the very famous, prestigious Gothic monumental staircase that gave access to the three floors of the building. The large rooms of the mansion had multiple purposes – from those used in the private life of the princes, to those for commercial purposes and others where they exercised their power and those used for public city life.
The elaborate staircase, now inside the building, gives access to the loggia, frescoed with the Legend of the Foundation of Rome, probably used for private use. From here you can go to the main floor with the Chapel containing paintings recounting Stories of the Virgin (by Ottaviano Nelli– 1424) and the Hall of the Arts and Planets and that of the Emperors or the Giants, whose frescoes dated 1411-12 and are attributed to the famous di Gentile da Fabriano.
The monumentality of the complex, now partly lost due to subsequent remodeling, was evidenced by the two walls that connected the new Palazzo Trinci to two other important buildings: the Palazzo delle Canoniche (a rectory and former residence of the Trinci) and the Palazzo of the Podestà (offices for chief magistrates).
Today, the old noble building has become a cultural center with sections for the City Art Gallery, the City Archaeological Museum and the more modern Multimedia Museum of Tournaments, Jousts and Games. Since 1936 the Civic Art Gallery has exhibited a collection of paintings that cover the history of the Foligno School of Art between the fourteenth and sixteenth century including renowned artists such as Bartolomeo di Tommaso, Nicolò the Alunno, Giovanni di Corraduccio and Pier Antonio Mezzastrisi. The Archaeological Museum, divided into two sections, tells the history of the city of Foligno from early Roman influence due to the Via Flaminia (Flaminian Way) and dedicates a special section to the Trinci family’s collection of sculptures from the 1400s including noteworthy works such as Love and Psyche, a statue of a figure in a toga, and a bass-relief with Hermes and the ram. Finally, the Multimedia Museum, opened in 2001, collects all the documentation of events, documents, archeological findings and customs that in part still influence the social life of the city; it also includes a document center for research, cataloging and the digitalization of materials and documents.