Palazzo Marchesi is a former aristocratic palace located on Via Santissimi Quaranta Martiri al Casalotto #14, adjacent to the

Chiesa del Gesù Chiesa (Italian, 'church') may refer to: People with the surname *Andrea Chiesa (born 1966), Swiss Formula One racer *Anthony della Chiesa (1394–1459), Italian Dominican friar *Bruno della Chiesa (born 1962), European linguist *Carlo Alberto Dal ...

for which this palace houses a bell-tower, in the ancient quarter of Albergheria, in central

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, region of Sicily,

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The building presently houses the rare book collection of the Biblioteca Comunale of Palermo.

History

The present building is the result of many reconstructions and alterations over the centuries. A large palace was first erected by Antonio de Cusenza in the 15th century. The palace contains elements of this construction in the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style windows of the lower bell-tower, while the courtyard arches exemplify a more sober early-

Renaissance style Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. By 1518, the Salvatore Marchesi, a prominent minister in the Aragonese Viceroy's service purchased the palace from the Cusenza family. The Marchesi family sold the palace in 1556 to the government, who installed the Holy Inquisition tribunal in the building for two years. In 1569, the palace, generally abandoned was ceded to the

Jesuit order , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders = ...

, who also ran the adjacent church. When the Jesuits were expelled from the kingdom in 1769, and the palace ultimately was again ceded to the government . The bell-tower appears to have been added atop a tower present at the spot, that had only two stories. Underneath the courtyard was a large excavated room, that now has been identified as either or both a ''camera dello scirocco'' for cooling off in the summer or as a former “ Miqweh” belonging to the Jewish community.Tourism entry of Comune of Palermo

References

Marchesi Gothic architecture in Palermo Renaissance architecture in Palermo {{Italy-palace-stub