Palazzo San Giacomo
In that crossroads of history and modernity that is Piazza Municipio, an immense space linking the port to the heart of the city, stands a grandiose and solemn building: Palazzo San Giacomo. This is not just a palace; it is the Municipio (City Hall), the house of the citizens and the centre of Neapolitan civic life.
Its rigorous and imposing Neoclassical architecture tells of a precise will to power. It was commissioned by King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (of Bourbon) and built in record time, between 1816 and 1825. The project, initiated by architect Stefano Gasse and continued by Pietro Valente and Antonio De Simone, was colossal: it was intended to unify all the kingdom's ministries (with the exception of War and the Navy) and the Stock Exchange into a single, grandiose headquarters.
A Memory Within a Memory
Its name, "San Giacomo," is a whisper from the past. The palace, in fact, stands on the site of the demolished Convent and Hospital of San Giacomo, from which it inherited its memory and name.
The Home of the City
To cross its threshold is to enter the administrative heart of Naples. Inside, the palace safeguards the city's symbols: alongside busts of illustrious Neapolitans, one finds statues representing the mythical founders, the siren Parthenope and the river-god Sebeto, in a perennial dialogue with the effigies of the sovereigns who commissioned it, Ferdinand I and Maria Carolina.
Having become the Palazzo di Città (City Hall) after the Unification of Italy, Palazzo San Giacomo remains today the symbol of urban government, a Neoclassical imprint that watches over the present of Naples from one of its most vital squares.
INFO
ADDRESS: P.za Municipio, 25, 80133 Napoli NA
