Architectural interventions between the 17th and 18th centuries transformed the medieval face of San Miniato into a modern, contemporary setting. This also applies to the scenic Piazza del Seminario (today Piazza della Repubblica) where the Bishop’s Seminary building stands. In the Middle Ages, the Piazza was surrounded by walls to which houses and workshops (still witnessed today by T-shaped projections) were attached, since the weekly market was held here. The sinuous appearance of the walls still influences the course of the façade of the Seminary, which follows the old wall route. When the Diocese of San Miniato was established in 1622, and thus the seat of the Bishopric, the city began to equip itself with buildings to suit this precious new status.
The construction of the Bishop’s Seminary Palace began in 1650 and was completed 63 years later. Despite the many years that have elapsed, the 18th-century decoration makes the Palace look like a large, perfectly unified block.
The building’s multifaceted façade with its original concave surface is decorated with 30 frescoes of allegorical figures of virtue, each linked with a sentence from the Bible or the Church Fathers explaining its meaning. Allegorical frescoes, like all religious images, were at the time considered fundamental to passing on to the public a set of moral teachings and dogmas, as well as being emotionally involving. Latin mottos often bear the name of the author on the façade, although sometimes the name painted in the frame and the real author of the sentence do not coincide, or in some cases the name is not written in the frame on the façade. This is possibly due to the deterioration of the façade at the end of the 19th century, which resulted in the disappearance of some names and the damage of others that may have been mistakenly altered during 20th century restorations.
Today, the building no longer serves as a seminary (previously it housed 12 clerics). It houses municipal and diocesan offices, religious institutes as well as the Seminary Library, a valuable archive of unpublished and old documents and books.