Palazzo Gallio

This impressive construction which dominates the town was built onto a jutting and rocky spit between the mountains and the lake.

The magnificent dwelling place was ordered in 1586 by Cardinal Tolomeo Gallio, Secretary of State at the service of the papal throne. Having been appointed a few years earlier by the county of the Tre Pievi, Gravedona, Sorico and Dongo, he assigned the realilzation of the building to Pellegrino Tibaldi, the architect of Cardinal Carlo Borromeo. However the building work was completed after 1607, the year of Cardinal Gallio's death.
The mansion was left to his nephews, Dukes of Alvito but it never enjoyed a splendid life. It was used by the French and the Spanish as a hospital until the early 1800s when it passed into private hands.

Today the building belongs to the Comunità Montana Alto Lario Occidentale, it is a national monument and the pride of the people of Gravedona.
Tradition reminds us that it should have hosted that Catholic Counter-Reformation Council which was then held in Trento. It is square shaped with four solid corner towers linked by narrow arcades; overhanging balconies open out towards the lake and towards the mountains offering a breathtaking view.
The boundary walls incorporate the remains of the ancient castle which was destroyed in XII century.

Below the balcony towards the lake there is an inscription which reads: "Tolomeo Gallio of the Holy Roman Church, Cardinal of the Como region and Lord of the Three Parishes of Gravedona, Sorico and Dongo, drawn by the mild climate and by the amenities of the location, embellished and rendered more illustrious the noble village of Gravedona with this great mansion, its gardens, fountains and pools in the year of Our Lord 1586".

The main central hall reaches two floors in height and it is today used for exhibitions concerts and meetings. Laterally there are other rooms connected with each other by arcades. These rooms are used as offices by the Comunità Montana Alto Lario Occidentale and by the local library.

The buikding does not have grand works or furnishings probably because the building was completed after the death of the commissioner and therefore never used as the owner had intended to.
The National monument, Palazzo Gallio, pride of the Gravedona local administration is now the head office of the Comunità Montana. “…A Gravedona il castello di Tolomeo dice una parola vera e bella dell’umanesimo rifatto cattolica…”.

(Da “Italia per Terra e per Mare”, in Autunno Lariano di Riccardo Bachelli)

   

   

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