PALAZZO MONCADA AND GALLERIA CIVICA D’ARTE – MUSEO TRIPISCIANO
Notwithstanding its clear incompleteness, Palazzo Moncada shows, with its solemn and majestic façade on Via Giacomo Matteotti, all the nobility of those who built it in the heart of Caltanissetta. The foundation stone was laid in 1651 by the will of the Prince Luigi Guglielmo I Moncada on a project by the Palermo architect Carlo d'Aprile, although the works stopped quite soon, when the prince was involved in an anti-Spanish conspiracy and estranged from Sicily. In 1778, the aristocratic residence became an orphanage, and later the seat of the Court of Appeal of Caltanissetta (1892), until, in 1915, the princess Maria Giovanna di Bauffremont purchased it and added to it a large hall with a gallery in the Liberty style, as a venue for theatrical pieces. Later on, a hall for theatre and movie shows was installed inside the courtyard. Today, Palazzo Moncada is no longer a secluded aristocratic residence, but a place open to the city: it hosts exhibitions, cultural meetings and concerts, as well as the Galleria Civica d’Arte – Museo Tripisciano (on the mezzanine floor). The Museum, dedicated to the great Caltanissetta sculptor Michele Tripisciano, through the four exhibition rooms (Sala del Belli, Sala degli Oratori, Sala dell'Orfeo, Sala degli Angeli), takes the visitor on a journey through beauty, thanks to the expressive intensity with which the artist has been able to shape the matter: the marble and bronze works, together with his sketches and studies, testify the artist’s personal growth from youth to maturity.
Address: Via Salita Matteotti, 10, Caltanissetta CL
Phone: 0934 547001
