Palazzo Marzano

The palace as a symbol of the culture of a client in the Renaissance

The palace, now adjacent to the arch of the same name previously called Porta di Piazza, is the result of an expansion in the mid-seventeenth century, which ended up altering the features of the building. The origins of the residence date back to works carried out by Galeazzo Capialbi, a man at arms from Benevento, between 1496 and 1514, on an area granted to him by the city Parliament. The client transformed the façade of the family residence into a palimpsest aimed at magnifying his culture and origins, reusing numerous ancient reliefs and epigraphs. These fragments were arranged, in particular, in correspondence with the corner and the door, which no longer exists today, but which is described in the sources. Having become the property of the Leontini family, who had intermarried with the Capialbi family, the palace was sold to the Mottola family, and ended up, again through marriage, belonging to the Marzano family. In the meantime, the perimeter of the building was extended, incorporating other properties, known to have ancient inscriptions, according to a widespread tradition in the Renaissance.