Palazzo del Comune (formerly De Nobili): Where History Meets Power

Piazza Matteotti - 1784, 20th-century renovations Overlooking Piazza Matteotti stands the elegant seat of the Municipality: a palace that encompasses over two centuries of city history, from its eighteenth-century origins as a noble residence to its transformation into a symbol of civic power. This is the story of a building that has hosted kings and mayors, witnessed the birth of unified Italy, and the growth of modern Catanzaro. From the Ashes of the Earthquake: The Birth (1784) The palace was born in 1784 from the ashes of the devastating earthquake of 1783 when the De Nobili della Bagliva family decided to build their patrician residence on what was then called Croce di Santa Chiara, due to its proximity to the thirteenth-century convent of the Clarisses (now the headquarters of the Carabinieri Legion). The construction had to comply with the strict anti-seismic parameters imposed by the Bourbon government: only two floors, ground floor and main floor, a limitation that paradoxically contributed to creating an architecture of rare elegance and perfect proportions. The Original Architecture: Eighteenth-Century Elegance The eighteenth-century palace showed its nobility through a facade characterized by: - Smooth rustication on the ground floor, where shops opened - Stone portal with a round arch in the center (now transformed into the lowered arch of the entrance hall) - String course separating the two levels - Simple balconies on the main floor - Oval oculi for attic lighting - Projecting modillion cornice The Royal Visit: Giuseppe Bonaparte (1806) The peak of the noble residence's splendor came from April 24 to 26, 1806, when King Giuseppe Bonaparte was a guest of Baron Emanuele De Nobili and his wife Olimpia Schipani. To properly welcome the sovereign, the baroness had the rooms lined with sky-blue brocade silk with polychrome and amaranth silks, a fabric specially created with a decorative motif of small flowers. This precious fabric still survives today and is used to "dress" the pilasters and arches of the Basilica dell'Immacolata during the solemnity of the Madonna. The Transition to the Municipality: A Forced Sale (1863) On June 23, 1863, with a deed by notary Spadola, the De Nobili family was forced to sell the palace for financial reasons. The Municipality purchased it for 67,998 lire, a considerable sum reflecting the importance of the building: sixteen first-class rooms, six second-class, and twelve third-class. Despite a long legal dispute initiated by the De Nobili in 1883 to invalidate the sale, in 1912 the case was definitively won by the Municipality, which began the transformation works of the building. The Twentieth-Century Transformation: From Eighteenth-Century to Neo-Renaissance Between 1933 and 1935, and later in the post-war period, the palace underwent a radical transformation that gave it its current appearance. The old eighteenth-century facade was replaced by a new one in Neo-Renaissance style, inspired by: ...