Palazzo Castelli Sannazzaro (Municipio)

Morbegno’s town hall occupies the former residence of the Castelli Sannazzaro family, reworked in the eighteenth century. Stucco cornices and wrought-iron balconies mark its place in the historic centre.

Why it matters

Morbegno’s town hall retains the character of an aristocratic residence. The palace was built for the Castelli di Sannazzaro in the quarter once called Berlenda. A later member of the family, the seventeenth-century archpriest Giovanni Battista Castelli Sannazzaro, began the town’s collegiate church nearby. The palace has housed the municipal offices since 1837; enlargement and the joining of neighbouring buildings began in 1988. Its surviving stuccoed rooms and courtyard preserve traces of its earlier life as a noble residence.

What to notice

The facade has stucco cornices and eighteenth-century wrought-iron grilles and balconies; a small balcony on the front is a notable example of local ironwork. The eighteenth-century reworking removed Renaissance features and much of the earlier interior decoration. In the inner courtyard, a stone plaque from the church of Sant’Antonio bears the family coat of arms. Inside, some rooms keep refined stucco decorations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; the council rooms and offices fill the rest.

Context and history

At the end of the noble line, the palace passed to the Parish of Morbegno, which sold it to the Comune.