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When the Town Council
of Montecatini decided to build the new town hall, it wanted a building that
could properly represent the town and its official role. In 1911 it commissioned
the local architect Raffaello Brizzi, assisted by Council engineer Luigi Righetti
as director of works, to design and construct it. The approved design was
a classical and monumental Renaissance style building, in other words, a palace
that perfectly suited its position of power. Three flights of stairs breach
the facade, one placed in the centre and the other two at the sides, thus
raising the ground floor above the level of the road in front of it and accentuating
its visual impact. Illumination for the atrium inside comes from a triple
arcade, which gives the impression of a loggia and therefore creates a reception
area that mediates between the exterior and the interior. A monumental staircase
with a banister in wrought iron leads up from the entrance hall to the first
floor where it is possible to admire the splendid decorations carried out
by Galileo Chini. The artist frescoed the ceiling, which has a large central
skylight, with allegorical representations of human activities, Knowledge,
Building, Working in Peace, in 1919. Chini carried out the decorations in
his usual style, in the typical Liberty style that was so popular in that
period. A continuous line inspired by nature constructs the space around which
the figures move, creating a harmonious environment that makes each single
element become part of the whole. The Council Room contains an extremely interesting
work of art, the monumental and imposing “Woman wrapped up in a flight
of birds”. Painted by Joan Mir˜ sometime between 1975 and 1978,
the artist donated it to the town in 1980 on the occasion of the great “A
tribute to Mirò” exhibition.
