Palazzo Carafa

This is a palazzo that refuses to be easily read. It presents as a single, unified structure, yet one that is complex and disjointed, a quadrangular block rising four-square over four levels. The clue to its former life is in the courtyard, where surviving round arches hint at a capacious stable on the ground floor and an airy loggia above.

Three square corner towers anchor the building, one notably larger than the others, a mastio suggesting defensive origins. The right-hand side has partially collapsed, a ruinous honesty that adds to the character. The entrance is a simple stone round arch, leading directly into the inner court. There are no balconies, no external loggias. Instead, the windows tell the story: small ones for the servants, larger ones on the third floor, presumably the piano nobile. It is a palazzo of clear, unapologetic hierarchies, built in regular masonry, and still standing its ground.

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