Palazzo Antonelli Dragonetti De Torres

In the wake of the devastating earthquakes of 1703, L’Aquila was rebuilt with a determined new architectural confidence. Palazzo Antonelli Dragonetti De Torres stands as a fine example of that civic resilience. This is not a single, isolated palace but part of a structural aggregate with neighbouring Palazzo Rivera; the two properties share load-bearing walls and respond together to both vertical and horizontal forces, though they remain functionally separate.

The building rises four levels, with a semi-basement that does not extend under the entire footprint. Its ground floor, now given over to public offices and archives, is a lesson in vaulting technique: cross vaults, barrel vaults, and schifo vaults, all in brick laid on edge. The courtyards are paved in limestone, cobbles, or stone slabs. Bounded by Via Monteluco, Via del Seminario, and Via Roio, the palace retains the strong character of its eighteenth-century origins. The Antonelli family were the first owners; it later passed to the De Torres, and then to the Dragonetti, on condition they append the earlier name to their own.

Description via source. Coordinates and heritage data from the Atika atlas.