Collegio Puteano

The Collegio Puteano occupies the central position on the west side of Piazza dei Cavalieri, adjoining the church of San Rocco to its left. Promoted by the Order of St Stephen between 1594 and 1598, its construction formed part of a unified project comprising three terraced houses, which also included the two blocks that later constituted the present-day Palazzo dell’Università, situated to its right.

The building derives its name from Puteus, the Latinised surname of Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo (1547–1607), Archbishop of Pisa, who in 1604 secured it on perpetual lease to accommodate a college for young students from Piedmont enrolled at the University of Pisa. His coat of arms remains prominent on the façade, where the fresco decoration executed in 1605 by Michelangelo Cinganelli can also be attributed to his patronage. Though now difficult to discern, the thematic and symbolic design of the cycle—featuring angels, trophies, and coats of arms within framed panels—appears to allude to the educational purpose of the institution.

The Collegio Puteano continued to serve its original function as a college for Piedmontese students almost without interruption until the early twentieth century. It stood as a unique institution within the piazza, where, by the end of the seventeenth century, every other building facing it was directly managed or occupied by the Knights of St Stephen. Throughout the twentieth century, numerous upheavals, changes of use, and varying degrees of temporary integration with adjacent structures brought about extensive internal alterations. Since 1997, it has functioned as the guesthouse of the Scuola Normale Superiore, following an agreement with the Fondazione Collegio Puteano, which, after the building’s restoration, granted its use to the academic institution. Since 2001, the Collegio has also provided access to, and accommodated several rooms of, the Ennio De Giorgi Centre for Mathematical Research, whose premises extend further above the oratory of San Rocco.