Palazzo Bruno di Belmonte, Ispica
Commissioned by the honorable Pietro Bruno di Belmonte, who wanted to reunite his family with his seven children in this building, Palazzo Bruno di Belmonte is one of the most imposing palaces in the city and the main testimony of the liberty style in the province of Ragusa.
The building, commissioned to the Palermitan architect Ernesto Basile in 1905, suffered various vicissitudes that often halted the works: from the outbreak of the First World War, to the death of Donna Giovanna, Pietro’s wife, and of Pietro himself two years later.
The children who inherited it in the 1920s managed to complete it and the only daughter who lived in the building was Preziosa Bruno di Belmonte.
Upon the death of Donna Preziosa in 1962, the building was purchased by the municipal administration and is currently the seat of the Ispica Town Hall.
The building is considered one of Ernesto Basile’s moments of adherence to art nouveau which adapts the liberty theme with its delicate floral decorations to themes already developed previously.
From the outside, the building stands out for its grandeur which contrasts with the narrow street it overlooks.
The building has three floors and two corner towers, one on the main façade and the other on the rear façade. The lower level of the facade is decorated with smooth rustication, while the two upper levels are plastered. The last register is closed by a polychrome majolica decoration with floral motifs and surmounted by a frame with blind arches.
The architraves of the large windows are decorated with floral bas-reliefs carved in Modica stone.
The interior, on the other hand, is organized around a courtyard overlooked by the windows of the upper floors, molded with geometrically decorated frames.
