Palazzo Campanella: Seat of the Regional Council of Calabria
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.2
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Italy
- Primary era
- Modern
- External website
- Open
- Eras represented
- Modern
- Civilizations
- Italian
- Site type
- Civic
- Remains
- Palace
On this page14 sections
History
Palazzo Campanella, formally Palazzo Tommaso Campanella, is a modern government complex in Reggio Calabria, Italy, built by the Region of Calabria as the seat of the Regional Council of Calabria, the elected legislative assembly of the region. Designed by Domenico Gimigliano, it was constructed from January 1986 to March 2000 and inaugurated in March 2000. The building takes its name from Tommaso Campanella, a seventeenth-century Calabrian philosopher, theologian, and poet.
From military site to regional government complex
The complex occupies the former site of the Panella Barracks, where the 20th Infantry Regiment “Brescia” was stationed. The regiment was dissolved in 1942 after the wartime events at El Alamein, the location of major World War II battles in Egypt. The later construction of Palazzo Campanella transformed the military site into a centre for regional political administration.
Palazzo Campanella stands in Via Cardinale Portanova, northeast of Reggio Calabria’s historic centre. It occupies approximately 23,000 square metres and currently houses the Regional Council of Calabria. Until 6 December 2013, one of its halls also housed the Riace Bronzes, ancient Greek bronze sculptures discovered near Riace and closely associated with Calabria. During their time at the complex, the statues underwent conservation restoration.
Institutional spaces and commemorations
The council chamber is dedicated to Francesco Fortugno, an Italian politician. The former council chamber was later converted into the Giuditta Levato Conference Hall. Giuditta Levato, an Italian peasant and labour activist, was killed during the 1946 peasant uprising and is remembered as its first victim.
The hall now called Sala Federica Monteleone was formerly named Sala Gennaro Portanova, after Cardinal Archbishop Gennaro Portanova. On 3 July 2007, it was renamed in memory of Federica Monteleone, a sixteen-year-old from Vibo Valentia who died in January 2007 after spending a week in a coma following an appendectomy.
Sala Nicholas Green commemorates an American boy whose death in a road accident and the donation of his organs became associated with an act of medical and familial solidarity. The Nicola Calipari Auditorium was inaugurated on 30 March 2005 and named after Nicola Calipari, an Italian intelligence official.
The Regional Council Library
The Regional Council Library was established in 1973, when the legislative assembly was created, to provide documentation for regional councillors. Regulations adopted on 3 June 2003 opened it to the public, particularly students at the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria.
Its legal section began taking shape on 4 January 1988, although the library had acquired its first legal books in 1972. The collection includes works on civil, commercial, bankruptcy, local-government administrative, regional, and criminal law, together with legal periodicals, European, national, and regional legislation, official gazettes and bulletins, and electronic legal databases.
The library’s Calabrian section supports research into the region’s history, culture, art, and folklore. Its oldest book is History of the Swabians in the Conquest of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily by Emperor Henry VI, written by Don Carlo Calà in the second half of the seventeenth century.
Remains
Palazzo Campanella is an eight-storey complex of linked building volumes with glass façades and metal walkways. Its total volume is approximately 145,000 cubic metres, while its usable floor area is about 36,000 square metres. A square known as the Agora occupies the centre of the complex, with the Regional Council Chamber rising above it on supporting pillars. The building’s unusual outline has led local residents to nickname it “the Spaceship.”
Council and conference spaces
Francesco Fortugno Council Chamber
The Francesco Fortugno Council Chamber lies at the heart of the complex. Its cubic interior has stepped seating, with the presidential and government benches arranged on the steps. Councillors sit opposite one another on two facing sides, while places for reporters, journalists, and the public are positioned at the front. The chamber holds approximately 200 people, including 94 places for the presidency, government, and councillors, about 30 for reporters and journalists, and 78 for the public. Variegated wood lines the room and also forms the central floor area, where the coat of arms of Calabria is set.
Giuditta Levato Conference Hall
The former council chamber is now the Giuditta Levato Conference Hall, a dedicated conference space within the complex.
Sala Nicholas Green
Sala Nicholas Green is located on the ground floor and has approximately 400 seats. Its independent entrance allows it to host events separate from the Regional Council’s activities. The hall contains a monument donated by the Green family, formed by seven bells shaped like doves. The bells refer to the seven organs donated from Nicholas Green, while their dove form represents peace and the elevation of the human spirit through the family’s act of solidarity.
Sala Federica Monteleone
Sala Federica Monteleone has more than 400 seats. It is used for graduation ceremonies of the law faculty of the Mediterranea University of Reggio Calabria and for major conferences. The hall has its own entrance and is also connected to the council chamber.
Nicola Calipari Auditorium
The Nicola Calipari Auditorium contains approximately 600 seats, including a section reserved for people with disabilities. Its fittings include parquet finishes, leather-covered seats, systems for television transmission, and equipment for simultaneous interpretation.
Collections and interior artworks
Sala Commissioni
Sala Commissioni accommodates meetings of council commissions, council groups, and restricted committees, as well as press conferences. It contains Il Giardino di Adone by Leo Pellicanò, a painting made on 46 panels. The work draws on vases from ancient Athens in which herbaceous plants were planted, grew, and died quickly. It compares this brief existence with the shortness of human life and includes allegorical figures for human vices and virtues.
Regional Council Library
The library occupies three subject areas. Its multidisciplinary section contains approximately 30,000 volumes on Calabria, architecture, philosophy, sociology, history, politics, statistics, and literature, along with 32 general-cultural periodicals held through continuing subscriptions. The legal section contains about 2,000 volumes and 61 legal periodicals, as well as collections of legislation, official publications, and electronic databases. The Calabrian section holds approximately 3,000 volumes on the region’s history, culture, art, and folklore.
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