Piazza della Repubblica

Piazza della Repubblica is the principal square of Pizzo, set at the top of the historic centre above the Gulf of Sant’Eufemia. Castello Murat stands on its western side, while the Church of the Immaculate Conception is on the eastern side. The square is also associated with Pizzo’s well-known tartufo dessert.

Why it matters

The square is a civic centre in Pizzo’s historic town and opens toward the Tyrrhenian coast. It is framed by the castle, the church and a terrace overlooking the Gulf of Sant’Eufemia. The name Piazza della Repubblica replaced the earlier Piazza Umberto I after the establishment of the Italian Republic, according to a secondary account of the square.

What to notice

The square’s two principal historic buildings face one another across the open space: Castello Murat to the west and the Church of the Immaculate Conception to the east. The waterfront edge opens toward the gulf. A local square guide also records the Fontana del Commercio, dated 1864, and a statue of Umberto I by Francesco Gerace; these features connect the piazza with the town’s nineteenth-century civic history.

Context and history

Castello Murat was built in the second half of the fifteenth century under Ferdinand I of Aragon as part of the kingdom’s coastal defences. In October 1815, Joachim Murat was captured in Calabria, tried and executed at Pizzo on 13 October. The castle now houses the Museo Murattiano, which preserves this episode in local and national history. The square’s older name, Piazza Umberto I, recalled the Italian monarch; its present name reflects the republican period.