Palazzo Mazzara

Palazzo Mazzara is an eighteenth-century noble residence occupying a block in Sulmona's historic centre. Its facade, courtyard and former piano nobile preserve a record of the Mazzara family's residence and of the artistic links between Naples and Pescocostanzo.

Why it matters

The palace was rebuilt after the 1706 earthquake over an earlier structure, probably dating to the 16th century. Its surviving architectural and decorative features include a courtyard loggia, stuccoed rooms and a former hanging garden with a Rococo fountain.

What to notice

The facade is arranged around a monumental entrance and a long balcony on the piano nobile. Inside the block, a three-sided arcade and upper loggia open onto the courtyard. The terrace garden, laid out around 1764, has a fountain decorated with a mascaron and marine motifs, and medallions bearing Latin inscriptions. The salons retain painted programmes drawn from the story of Psyche, the Judgment of Paris and marriage allegories.

Context and history

The first certain record of the palace's development dates to 1748, when the Mazzara family acquired neighbouring houses. Around 1759, Marchesa Smeralda Mazzara commissioned window decorations designed in Naples and adapted by the Pescocostanzo master Ferdinando Mosca. A three-ramp staircase shown in a surviving plan was never built. Later alterations included work in 1885 and the early 20th century, adaptations during the building's use by a technical institute in the 1950s, municipal acquisition of part of the property in the 1980s and restoration of courtyard and stone elements in 2006.