Description
The Palazzo del Governo is the seat of Messina's Prefecture, on Piazza Unità d'Italia across from the seafront promenade: a large Art Nouveau palace built around a courtyard, with an 80-meter facade facing the Fountain of Neptune.
The upper floor is framed by four statues symbolizing Messina's rebirth after its natural disasters. At the corners, two set-back octagonal wings with raised crowns echo the motif at the center of the facade.
It was designed by Cesare Bazzani in 1913 and completed in 1920. The palace covers almost the whole site of the 16th-century Church of San Giovanni dei Cavalieri di Malta, ruined by the 1908 earthquake.
Bazzani did not erase what was left of the church: at the back, toward Via Placida, he set its Tribuna beside a second wing, also built around a courtyard, that blends in with the remains.
The upper floor is framed by four statues symbolizing Messina's rebirth after its natural disasters. At the corners, two set-back octagonal wings with raised crowns echo the motif at the center of the facade.
It was designed by Cesare Bazzani in 1913 and completed in 1920. The palace covers almost the whole site of the 16th-century Church of San Giovanni dei Cavalieri di Malta, ruined by the 1908 earthquake.
Bazzani did not erase what was left of the church: at the back, toward Via Placida, he set its Tribuna beside a second wing, also built around a courtyard, that blends in with the remains.