If you are interested in art and history , you can visit the Town Hall. The Town Hall was built as the governors’ palace at the end ofthe 13th century.
Inside we can admire two beautiful rooms decorated with the 14th and 16th- century amazing frescoes: La Sala delle Sette Virtù and La Sala Consiliare.
The frescoes in La Sala delle Sette Virtù were painted between the 14th and the 16th centuries. The most important fresco is the “Virgin Mary nursing her Child surrounded by the Theological and Cardinal Virtues”, attributed to Cenni di Francesco di Ser Cenni. In the middle of the painting, you can see the Virgin Mary and the Infant Jesus. Around her there are some female figures, who are symbols of the Seven Virtues. “Justice” is holding a sword in her right hand and scales in her left hand; “Prudence” is pointing to a mirror with her right hand;“Temperance” is holding a phial of wine mixed up with water in her right hand; “Fortitude” is holding a sword and is wearing a helmet; “Hope” is praying; “Charity” has got a flame in her right hand and a piece of paper in her left hand and “Faith” has a cross on her left shoulder.
La Sala Consiliare is situated next to the “Sala delle Sette Virtù” and contains Francesco Maria Galli Angelini’s famous frescoes depicting the history of San Miniato during the Middle Ages. In one of these frescoes we can see a knight riding a horse and holding a sword in his right hand.
On the right there is a parchment and on the left there is the knight’s Coat of Arms. Next to this fresco, we can see a man holding a green book in his left hand and a quill in his right hand. He is wearing a red robe and a red hat.
In the corner there is his family’s Coat of Arms. In another fresco we can see the Virgin Mary talking to San Miniato, San Genesio, Sant’Agostino and San Francesco. The room is decorated with frescoes depicting the Coats of Arms of famous noble families from San Miniato and famous leaders such as Francesco Sforza, Barone de’ Mangiadori and Franco Sacchetti, who was the “Podesta’(governor)of San Miniato in the 1380s and governed the town on behalf of the Florentine Republic.
Nowadays council meetings and conferences are held in the Sala Consiliare.
