Palazzo Pfanner is a very historical and noble palace in the heart of the city of Lucca. Its history is quite old and it is dated back in 1660.
It was built as private residence by a prestigious silk merchant family of Lucca named Moriconi, members also of the high society those years. However after a very bad financial meltdown they were forced to sell the palace to another prestigious family of those years, the Controni, which they were trying to establish their noble escalation into the society.
Controni after they took ownership of the palace will take care of a full renovation inclusive also of an expansion to make it even bigger, inclusive of its beautiful garden. The renovation included also some fine paintings still now existing under the big room roofs.
It is part of the history that the palace will also host the famous love story between Prince Federico of Denmark, next King Federico IV of Denmark and Norway, and the noble lady Maria Maddalena Trenta of Lucca.
The Controni’s will own the palace very long till when, in late 1800, they decided to rent part of the palace to a School and the Court of Assizes due to some economic difficulties. At the middle of 1800 the Bavarian Pfanner family will enter the history of the palace when Felix Pfanner, big beer producer in Austria, have rent the palace rooms when he was called by the Duca of Lucca as his personal and city beer producer. In this role Felix will make so much money to finally buy the palace for himself to host the new Pfanner brewery which will be very famous locally. The Pfanner brewery will close in the 1929.
Since that date the palace is still owned by the Pfanner family but they don’t live here anymore and just take care about it and its garden, opening visits to the public and organizing cultural and public events. The palace is even hosting a Michelin star restaurant (my review) which recently moved there after it was hosted inside the contemporary art museum of Lucca.
Currently only some rooms are open for public visits and they are hosting a collection of old medical tools owned by Pietro Pfanner, old very famous surgeon, curator of the city of Lucca and also its Major for 2 years between 1920 and 1922.
Palazzo Pfanner hosted also a couple of Italian movie productions: Arrivano i bersaglieri, Il marchese del Grillo and Ritratto di Signora. The choice was done thanks to its garden which is one of the most beautiful garden of the city, in fact it is often chosen for photography events such as the Lucca Comics and Games.
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