Palazzo Montevergini

Palazzo Benso della Verdura (Montevergini), which, in the second half of the eighteenth century was owned by the dukes of Pratameno, did not present characteristics of a typical eighteenth-century palace and had undergone many transformations over the centuries.
It could be likened, from a planimetric point of view, to an agglomeration of buildings around internal openings, according to a distributional model reminiscent of the Arab ones of the 10th century. It is precisely in this planimetric distribution, most likely the result of a fusion of many minor and ancient, possibly Arab, cells, that the charm of the palace consists. Although it had no arcades or double and triple courtyards, it represents an interesting out-of-the-box case of 18th-century aristocratic architecture. The various additions had created spaces, courtyards, light wells, balconies, terraces at different levels and a garden that, although surmounted by high walls, is a happy oasis of greenery in the heart of the old city.The building passed into the ownership of Benso and Sammartino Giulio, Duke of Verdura in 1973.The palace was in fair static condition at the time of the first surveys and still retained frescoed vaults and wall decorations on the main floor.