Built at
the beginning of 1500s for Pietro Griffo Bishop of Forlì
It was
restored in 1588 by Giovanni Fontana
(1540/1614), brother of Domenico Fontana, for Gaspare Scapucci
During the
restoration the TOWER OF THE MONKEY of 1014 was included in the building
It was
linked to a legend that became famous when told in 1860 by the American
novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne in his novel The Marble Faun:
Legend has
it that in the palace lived a monkey who, one day, kidnapped the baby of his
master in swaddling clothes, and took him to the top of the tower, making him stick
out from the battlements, just for fun, at the risk of making him fall
The parents
and the people who were there implored the help of Our Lady who rescued the
baby: so the ape, at a call of the child's father, came back down the tower and
into the house, carrying the baby safe and sound
From
that day the father of the child wanted that a lamp would burn before a statue
of the Virgin that he placed on top of the building, as a thanksgiving for the
grace received
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