Originally from Lombardy, the Miniscalchis arrived in Verona from the Bergamo area during the years of Visconti domination over the city (1387-1404). The first records date back to 1407 when Zaninus Mareschalchus, founder of the Veronese branch, was given Veronese citizenship.
Originally farriers, they arrived in Verona in search of fortune, where they became merchants. In a short time they managed to acquire a substantial land patrimony that led them to conquer a significant social and political level, obtaining the frieze of nobility in 1425 and becoming part of the Noble Council of the City of Verona; since then the members of the family gradually abandoned the marking to devote themselves solely to land investments.
Following the acquisition of the new title, the family decided to commission a building in keeping with the acquired social level. They then commissioned Angelo di Giovanni da Verona to build the noble palace in the last quarter of the 15th century.
The scheme re-proposes a very common model in Veronese private architecture of this period, namely a monumental facade advanced on the street front that delimited the internal courtyard, around which the residential building was organized.
The façade is characterized by a majestic ogival portal and fresco decoration. The frescoes were made around 1590 by Michelangelo Aliprandi and Tullio India the Elder.
Alvise Miniscalchi commissioned the construction of the family chapel in the church of Sant'Anastasia to the same architect of the building, Angelo di Giovanni da Verona, in 1506, after having discarded the projects of artists such as Liberale and Giovanni Maria Falconetto.
Over the centuries Miniscalchi managed to unite with the most important families of the Veronese nobility and beyond. Among these marriages, a significant union was the one celebrated in 1785 between Marcantonio Miniscalchi and Teresa Moscardo, daughter of Princess Alfonsa d’Este and part heir of the Wunderkammer of the Veronese scholar Ludovico Moscardo.
The wedding between Marcantonio and Teresa is allegorically represented in this tempera on plaster, where Teresa presents her husband to the Este house, represented by Minerva, while a torchbearer cherub holds a shield with the coats of arms of the spouses' families.
From the marriage between Teresa and Marcantonio Luigi was born who in 1808 married Marianna Erizzo, one of the last three descendants of the illustrious Venetian patrician family. Marianna boasted among her ancestors a Doge, procurators of San Marco, ambassadors and diplomats.
In 1896 Marco Antonio Miniscalchi, nephew of Luigi and Marianna, obtained from the Heraldic Council of the Kingdom of Italy the consent to combine the surnames and coats of arms of the Miniscalchi and Erizzo families.
The burning bramble surrounded by ivy, the coat of arms of the Miniscalchi, joins that of the Erizzo family, the golden band on a blue background with the representation of the letter E and a stylized hedgehog.
Among the other symbols present we have the count's crown with nine balls indicating the noble title, the doge's horn which refers to the ancestor doge Francesco Erizzo.
The ermine cloth, an attribute of the princes, which forms the background of the composition is a reference to the father of Marianna Erizzo, who was nominated by the Emperor of Austria for his commitment during the Veronese Easters.
The son of Marco Antonio, Mario Miniscalchi-Erizzo, without direct and last descendants of the family, with his testament wanted to preserve the family home and the historical-archaeological-artistic collections preserved in it.
When Count Mario passed away in 1957, the Foundation he wanted was erected into a moral entity under private law by decree of the President of the Republic. After thirteen years of great works, on March 30, 1990 the "Miniscalchi-Erizzo Museum" was inaugurated and permanently opened to the public.
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