Palazzo Tezzano

Coordinates: 37°30′28.7″N 15°5′08″E / 37.507972°N 15.08556°E / 37.507972; 15.08556

Tezzano Palace
Tezzano Palace, the eastern view

The Palazzo Tezzano is a historic building in Piazza Stesicoro, which is in the center of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy.

History

The construction of Palazzo Tezzano started in 1709 on land owned by the count and physician Nicholas Tezzano.[1] It was later donated to the city of Catania. It was transformed into a hospital by Alonzo Di Benedetto between 1720 and 1727.

In 1837, partly because of the hospital's economic difficulties,[2] part of the building was leased by the House of Bourbon to house its archives. Some years later, around 1844, the palace were also added some of the Attorney General's office and local seats of the criminal chancellery. In those years, plans were made for the relocation and transformation of the entire hospital and the building of a general court. Those projects were stranded following the Revolution of 1848. The transfer of the hospital took some time between 1878 and 1880. It was moved to premises adjacent to the Benedictine Monastery of St. Nicholas, and changed its name to "Vittorio Emanuele II Hospital".

After the transfer of the hospital, Palazzo Tezzano remained the seat of the Court until the new headquarters building in Giovanni Verga Square completed and inaugurated in 1953.

Architecture

The building has an imposing appearance, a square shape with an inner courtyard that surrounds the building, forming a "U" facing north. The entrance from the Piazza Stesicoro is across a wide front door, at the center of the main façade, dominated by a monumental balcony above which is a clock tower. The façade is symmetrical and is divided in height from false stone columns that contrast with the basalt plaster creating a division into five architectural units per side.

Notes

  1. ↑ Francesco Ferrara, Storia di Catania.
  2. ↑ G. Sorge, Lineamenti di storia dell'ospedalità civile catanese, Catania. 1940

References

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