Marchese Pottino Palace Petralia Soprana
The Palazzo Marchese Pottino of Petralia Soprana is one of the most interesting civil buildings in the village.
It was built in the first half of the 19th century at the behest of the family of the Marquis of Eschifaldo and barons of Capuano. Don Michele Raimondo Pottino married Maddalena Sgadari of the barons of Celsa in 1834, who brought the barony of Capuano and the marquisate of Eschifaldo as a dowry. The importance acquired by the Pottino family in Petralia Soprana between 800 and 900 is reflected in the number of buildings belonging to the various branches of the family that dot the historic center.
At the time of construction, the main facade of the building overlooked a narrow street as the current Piazza del Popolo was occupied by the church of the Madonna del Carmelo and there were considerable road differences that were leveled only at the end of the 19th century. Many houses were buried an entire floor, while Palazzo Pottino suffered a leakage of the foundations, still visible today .
The building is in neoclassical style, characterized by very simple lines and inspired by severity and grandeur. It is built around a central courtyard and its main façades now overlook via Medici, Corso Umberto and Piazza del Popolo. From the door you enter the central courtyard, with a fountain, a colonnade and a door in the neo-Renaissance style in the center. The marble staircase leads to the main floor and to the enfilade of the halls with different floors and important 19th century frescoes with lightly drawn and pastel-colored views, framed by classic branches. An ancient chapel brought together nobles and servants; from the party hall you enter the bedroom of the marquises, with a wonderful canopied alcove supported by marble columns.
Inside the palace there is an exhibition of nineteenth-century clothes, sewn by local seamstresses, and used for the representation of the baronial wedding, every August.
