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ANTONELLI PALACE
THE HISTORY
In the middle of Via Bixio, down and to the right of the Piazza Vittorio Emanuele, you find the Antonelli family palace, which is one of the most illustrious palaces of Montefiascone, where Mercurio Antonelli once lived. He was an important historian who focused on the territory of the patrimony of St. Peter and the Avignon Papacy period of exile. In 1766, in one letter by Giovan Battista Casti, addressed to Gianbattista Luciani, we find mention of the “beautiful lady Checca Antonelli” with whom the poet seems to have had a consensual relationship and friendship, Francesca Antonelli. Another member of this family, Giovan Battista Antonelli, one of the people more prominent in the 19th century Montefiascone, in addition to serving as a notary, served in the office of Gonfaloniere (a highly prestigious communal office in medieval and Renaissance Italy), in the Provincial Council, and as a member of many charitable institutions. He also was a fundamental figure, working alongside with the lawyer Francesco Ricca, of the restitution of the territory of Commenda to the city of Montefiascone after the legal dispute with the town of Viterbo, which was prolonged for 129 years. The members of the Antonelli family, who were conservative Papal supporters, were slandered during the movements of 1848, by the bourgeois revolutionary movements of the Cernitori family.
DESCRIPTION
The noble palace, located within the city, was placed on Via Bixio, providing visibility to a road with relatively high traffic, in respect to the more frequented Corso Cavour, which could overlook the Via Verentana. The arterial road that, to this day, connects the city of Motefiascone to the western part of Lake Bolsena, which overlooks the small city of Capodimonte, Marta, Valentano, etc. and has given access to the west, both to the sea and to Tuscany. When looking at the front perspective of the facade, you see a central part of the building with two symmetrical buildings on each side that are set back in respect to the central building.
In the center of the façade we find a grand trifora that resembles a monumental fountain, characterized by a grand arch with a centralized ornate bugnato. On either side of the arch, there are two shallow, symmetrical windows, framed by a collection of ornamental molding. Higher on the building are embossed windows made with stucco relief arches, three of which overlook the embellished shell-shaped balconies fortified with railings. Two other shell-shaped balconies are located on the two lateral bodies of the building. On the left of the large trifora is a column that rises to the upper half of the building, engraved with the noble family crest. At the top of the building there is a small structure that resembles a bell tower along with two small pinnacles made of brick, surmounted by two closed spheres in heraldry forms.
ESSENTIAL BIBLIOGRAPHY
G. Breccola, Montefiascone. Guida alla scoperta, Montefiascone 2006.
