Captain of the People Palace and Civic Tower, Assisi

Emerging from the Roman Forum, enter the Town Hall Square. What do we see on the uphill side of the square? We see the Captain of the People Palace and the Civic Tower. The Palace was built in 1282 to house the Captain's offices. The captain this was done for was one Guido de Rossi. Captain Guido was from Florence. He hung his coat-of-arms on the wall. During the middle ages, the chief administrator of Italian city-state was called Captain of the People (Capitano del Populo).

The Palace was the first public building put up in the Town Hall Square. The facade shows four doors on the ground floor and four windows. The second and third floors also are each furnished with four windows. Guelph style battlements were added in 1927. The palace became a public school in the 16th century. Today it is home to the Carabinieri, a law enforcement agency in Italy.

Close to this imposing edifice is the Civic Tower, also called The People's Tower ("Il Torre del Populo"), it rises to a height of 153 feet above the square. The tower dates to the mid 13th century. It was intended to be the residence of the Captain of the People. It has large lancet windows high up and smaller lancet windows below and a clock.

In the 16th century the Tower became the headquarters of the Guild of Notaries. The Notaries rebuilt the doorway and set their coat-of-arms on display: a book, a pen and an inkwell. The Bell of Praises was hung in the Tower by King Victor Emmanuel III to memorialize the 600th anniversary of Saint Francis.