Palazzo Costanza

PALAZZO COSTANZA

Historic building of Fardella

Categoria: MONUMENTAL HISTORICAL BUILDINGS

Dating back to the first half of the 18th century, Palazzo Costanza, along with other elegant buildings, is one of the oldest, owned by powerful families in terms of wealth and culture and who left their mark in the history of this small town. Currently occupied and with renovated interiors, the inner courtyard is the only element of the building that can be visited, with its monumental portal and the small chapel dedicated to St Dominic.

The chapel, with two separate entrances, one on the courtyard and one on the main road, is to the right of the courtyard and has a trefoil window.

Aligned with the window, on the inside, there is an altar made with local coloured stone, on which there is a small niche. Here was a painting with Our Lady of the Rosary, among St Catherine, St Dominic and St Thomas Aquinas attributed to Sellitto.

The building, around the three sides of the courtyard, consists of a ground floor that was used as a storeroom or to shelter animals, and a first floor where daily life took place and which had a large official room, a so-called ‘gallery’, as it was customary in the other buildings.

Also featuring a very modest facade, its distinctive architectural element is an 18th-century entrance portal made with local stone, it consists of a pillar and a capital, holding the arch and whose keystone bears the family coat of arms with an animal. In the lower part, a series of spiral-like motifs; the top of the facade features a small bell, still rung by hand today with a ladder whenever the procession passes, marking the presence of the small place of worship.

The portal leads to the central courtyard with a large staircase, starting with a single flight of stairs and then dividing to the right and left. The courtyard has two pillars, which were perhaps meant to support canopies for seasonal use.