The building is located in the Palma district, the main artery of the historic city. The palace dominates the area where the medieval city may be accessed from the rio San Romolo plane through the, now demolished, Montà gate. The residenceappears to be the complex fusion of a number of buildings of medieval origin, only arranged to form a single building in the late 15th and early 16th centuries.
At the beginning of the 16th century, it was a prestigious palace, chosen in 1538 as the residence of Pope Paul III (Alessandro Farnese), on his way to Nice to uphold the peace between Charles V and Francis I. The decorated portal and elegant vestibule evoke the original pomp of the building.