Palazzo Trimarchi (Bar Vitelli)

On Savoca’s main square, Palazzo Trimarchi is known for its ground-floor Bar Vitelli, a filming location for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather in 1971. The palace’s history also reflects the civic and domestic life of the Borgo quarter.

Why it matters

In 1971, scenes for Francis Ford Coppola’s The Godfather were filmed in the ground-floor bar; the name Bar Vitelli became associated with it through the film. The palace is one of the noble houses of the Borgo quarter. The municipality also records that it was attacked during a popular tumult in July 1820.

What to notice

The facade rises two floors above a semi-basement cellar. Three balconies rest on carved stone corbels, and two worked stone portals mark the entrances. The formal piano nobile above and the ground-floor bar below place domestic architecture and contemporary use within the same building. The surrounding piazza also appears in the film.

Context and history

The municipality dates the palace to between the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and records it as the Trimarchi family residence. The family restored and enlarged it in 1773. The Trimarchi were among the leading lineages of Savoca, and their house anchored the Borgo quarter beside the Town Hall. The July 1820 assault belongs to the turbulent decade of constitutional risings in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, in which the town took part. In the 20th century the palace turned civic: the municipality records that in the second half of the century its upper floor housed the village middle school and school administration. In 1971, the Coppola film shoot established the Bar Vitelli name for the ground-floor bar.