Description
PALAZZO LEOPARDI
The Leopardi Palace of Recanati overlooks the plaza that took its name from a famous lyric by Giacomo, "The Village Saturday". Its present structure is not striking for a particular grandeur, but for its simple and elegant lines and it is due to the last restoration, carried out in the 18th century by the architect Carlo Orazio Leopardi, the poet’s great-uncle. On the other sides of the famous square stands the church of St. Mary of Montemorello, built by Pier Niccolò Leopardi in the second half of the 16th century: in front there is the building that once housed some families of servants in the upper floors. Among them the one of Teresa Fattorini, later celebrated by the poet as Silvia. The gardens, the place of the games of many generations of children, are located in the back of the building: once the family also owned the spaces adjacent to them, until, in the first half of the 15th century, Blancina Leopardi donated them for the construction of Convent of Saint Stephen, now home to the World Poetry Institute. The entire first floor, above the old cellars, is occupied by the famous library, while the rest of the building is the family's home: to access it you have to climb a large 18th-century staircase, even this work by the architect Carlo Orazio Leopardi. On the walls some archaeological finds are walled up. They were collected by Monaldo who also placed between two columns the marble lintel, once on the old door, with a well-wishing inscription, the only evidence of the ancient structure of the building.