Palazzo Fruscella-Romano

A palazzo on five levels, two of them semi-basements, with a rectangular plan and a continuous masonry structure of plastered stone. Its pitched roof is clad in terracotta tiles, the interior floors flat. The west-facing principal facade is distinguished by a substantial stone portal, above which a balcony projects; the rear, east elevation is more plainly composed. Such buildings, typically the urban residences of prosperous families, were designed to project authority and domestic order onto the street, while the plainer rear often concealed service courtyards or gardens. This one, straightforward in its massing, makes its statement through that single, assertive entrance, a threshold between the public realm and the private life within. The two lower levels, sunk into the earth, would have housed storerooms, kitchens, or cellars, the practical foundations of a household that presented its best face at first-floor level.

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