Palazzo Bonifacio VIII, the setting for memorable events in the Middle Ages, stands in the historical centre of Anagni(FR), known as the city of the Popes because of the four pontiffs born here and its extended status as a Papal residence.
The Palace presents as a classic baronial residence with two great stone arches, an external side staircase leading to the first floor and, on the upper part, 5 double windows that light the interior and alleviate the building. The only access to the upper floor is by a spiral stone staircase, once enclosed in a small tower, which leads to the two main rooms: the sala delle Oche (room of the Geese) and the sala degli Scacchi (Chess room). The former has a large fresco on the western wall with rhomboid frames containing various paintings of geese. The chess room owes its name to the fresco on the eastern wall where four-sided shapes form chessboards. The room is also known as the “room of the slap” because it was the setting for the final scene in a long power struggle between two very different power brokers: Pope Boniface VIII who asserted the universal role of the Church and King Philip IV of France, the leading nation state in Europe. Following a range of events, and controversies, with the French taxing the clergy and the Pope threatening excommunication, Philip sent Giacomo Sciarra Colonna to Anagni in 1303 to mediate but the Pope did not want to negotiate and he was slapped.
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