The Palazzo di Città, formerly Palazzo Alessi, is the town hall of Paternò. It was built in 1787 for the Alessi family, wealthy landowners of distant Roman origin who had settled in Paternò in the sixteenth century and owned several fiefs, including the barony of Nicosia; the Alessi lived here until the early nineteenth century.
What to see
Later the palace housed the municipal library and then the town hall, and in 1922 it passed definitively to the municipality. From 1960, when the council moved to a building on piazza della Repubblica, it housed the municipal police and various offices; closed in the seventies and abandoned for decades, it was restored between 2002 and 2005, and since 2006 it has again been the council's official and ceremonial seat.
It is on two levels, in the middle-class style typical of the eighteenth century. The long façade has lava stone windows and portals on the ground floor and the main arched entrance with a mask, also in lava stone; on the upper floor are the main balcony, resting on large corbels, and the portal of honour, topped by a Baroque cartouche with the town's coat of arms and a Latin inscription in its praise. Inside, one ceiling is entirely painted, and the council chamber has fine stucco work.
Visiting
It is a public building with offices: whether the rooms can be seen should be checked with the municipality.
Our editors' tip
Behind the palace opens a large courtyard with a big gate onto via Gessai, which hosts some events.
