PALAZZO MARTINELLI IN MONOPOLI (BA)

Palazzo Martinelli was built in the 18th century on the site of the ancient city walls. The construction of the building is set on four levels (ground floor, first floor, second floor, third floor attic), overlooks the harbor and is distinguished by eighteenth-century windows with pagoda gables and round arches. The characteristic neo-Gothic style loggia, consisting of eight pointed arches, is superimposed on three arches, overlooking the port towards the sea. The Venetian neo-Gothic style refers to the period in which the Venetians were present in Monopoli towards the end of the 1400s. Palazzo Martinelli is therefore a listed building of significant historical, artistic and architectural value. The property will be recovered according to the general principles of “integrated conservation”, that is, in compliance with its formal-spatial-material aspects, in continuity with its “modal” logic. The aim of the restoration project is to ensure the use of the first and second floors to be used as museum rooms and offices, recovering the original intertwined and sequential distribution of the interior spaces and the ground floor to be allocated, in addition to the reception areas for visitors, also to the setting up of didactic laboratories and permanent and temporary exhibitions on the theme of the Sea Museum. The intervention will allow the completion of the structural consolidation, recovery and enhancement works of the property in order to guarantee, as a matter of priority, the structural stability of the whole, the recovery of the historical and artistic parts (affected by advanced decay due to abandonment and proximity to the aggressive marine environment), and subsequently with other resources also the completion of the restoration of the envelope and of the internal environments in order to guarantee their concrete use as a cultural museum container.