Palazzo Torlonia: An Administrative Palace in Avezzano, Italy
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 3.9
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Modern
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Italian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page7 sections
History
Palazzo Torlonia is a historic building in Avezzano, Italy, commissioned by the Torlonia family between 1870 and 1875 after the complete drainage of Lake Fucino. The family, a prominent Italian landowning and banking dynasty involved in developing the Fucino basin, installed its administration in the palace within Villa Torlonia, beside what became Piazza Torlonia.
Construction after the drainage of Lake Fucino
The palace formed part of the administrative landscape created by the drainage of Lake Fucino, a major nineteenth-century transformation that converted the lake basin into agricultural land. It stood along the side of Piazza Aia, later renamed Piazza Torlonia. The original building contained offices, guest accommodation, and a chapel. Its three floors were crowned by a bell turret with a clock, while Torlonia coats of arms were placed beside every window.
In 1899, Anna Maria Torlonia and Giulio Borghese commissioned a monumental fountain for the municipal gardens of Villa Torlonia. The palace balcony overlooked the gardens, linking the administrative building with the estate’s landscaped public setting.
Earthquake reconstruction
The 1915 Marsica earthquake, which severely damaged Avezzano and many buildings across the surrounding Marsica area, almost completely destroyed Palazzo Torlonia. Giovanni and Carlo Torlonia ordered its reconstruction. The work followed the new anti-seismic regulations introduced by Royal Decree No. 573 of 29 April 1915 and was completed and inaugurated in 1925.
The rebuilt palace was reduced from three floors to two. Its bell turret and clock were not restored. Around 1927, a carved coat of arms representing the Principality of Fucino was installed above the balcony. The emblem probably dated from the second half of the nineteenth century and was attributed to the architect Carlo Nicola Carnevali. Its placement expressed the territory’s renewal after the lake drainage. Near the end of the Second World War, in 1944, the coat of arms disappeared along with tapestries, curtains, and other objects apparently taken by retreating Nazi forces. It was later replaced by a sculpted emblem showing an imperial eagle above the Torlonia family arms.
Administrative and archival use
From the agrarian reform of 1950 until 31 December 2011, the palace housed the administrative and logistical offices of Ente Fucino. This institution was later renamed ERSA, the Regional Agricultural Development Authority, and finally ARSSA, the Regional Agency for Agricultural Development Services. The institution acquired the palace and its associated properties in 1978, after which ownership passed to the Abruzzo Region.
Since 2012, the first floor has housed the Avezzano section of the State Archives. In 2017, part of the same floor was refitted as the Ugo Maria Palanza Marsican Studies Centre. It contains historical administrative records relating to the municipalities of Marsica and other municipalities in Abruzzo, together with a library.
Remains
The reconstructed palace
The present palace has two floors and a facade facing Piazza Torlonia. Above its balcony, a pediment with a semicircular lunette forms the principal decorative feature. The original Fucino emblem in the lunette showed a crown and a phoenix on a pyre. The replacement displays an imperial eagle with outspread wings over a globe, above the Torlonia emblem.
The first-floor interiors retain murals made in 1932. Vincenzo Alicandri decorated the Prince’s Hall, while Francesco Antonio Bianchi painted the entrance hall. Pietro Cascella later added further work. The paintings present the dedication and sacrifice of the pioneers who completed the drainage of Lake Fucino.
The floors are covered with painted ceramic tiles from Vietri sul Mare. Their Art Nouveau, or Liberty, designs use the flowing lines and stylized decoration associated with that artistic style. Carlo Torlonia commissioned the floors after the earthquake, and they were produced by Richard-Ginori, Cantagalli, and Villeroy & Boch. Stained glass and wrought-iron work by prominent twentieth-century Italian artists add to the interior decoration.
Surviving well and later administration building
An additional administration building once stood inside Villa Torlonia beside the granaries. It had a well constructed at the end of the nineteenth century in connection with the Avezzano aqueduct and the fountain in Piazza Torlonia. The well survives as the remaining element of that building.
Between 1971 and 1976, a modern replacement for the destroyed administration building was erected on its site. Designed by the Roman engineers Petruzzi and Moretti, it rises four floors above a basement and uses a steel frame with external porcelain-panel cladding. Its entrance incorporates a 1975 work by the sculptor Pasquale Di Fabio.
Nearby sites
