About two months after his arrival in Padua, Jacopo II intervened to provide Petrarch with a quiet home suitable for study and conservation, with a small garden and a well. Bishop Hildebrand Conti provided the necessary mediation: the house belonged to the Duomo and was ceded to the poet until death, when it was to be returned to its canonical role. The house had two floors: at ground level there were four rooms, two caneve (cellars), a courtyard, a horse stable, chicken yard and the beautiful well. The upper level contained four rooms, three grain and food stores, with a large study and adjacent smaller study for the poet. The house was situated south of the Duomo, and not to the north, as was once believed and as is still indicated on a memorial stone on an exterior transept of the Duomo. When the new choir of the cathedral was built, in 1553, the house's facade and Petrarch's studio were demolished to make room for the roadway, and further modifications occurred over time. Eventually, in 1975, there was a discovery of frescos dating to the 13th century, decorating a large rectangular room. Those on the north wall, in red, consist of alternating palm leaves and lilies. The east wall, in different colour, shows the same designs together with a half wheel motif. The upper part of the north wall depicts a city wall with three towers. In the lower areas, at several points, one can make out details of horses, horsemen, and a pair of Centauri.