Palace of the Signoria - Old Prison

The Palace of the Signoria rises up from the heart of the historic centre of Caltabellotta and is known by the majority of the local people as the “Old Prison”, as a result of its use following the unification of Italy that continued up until the early twentieth century. The architectural complex later became the Littorio headquarters. Since the end of the Second World War it has been partly used as a communal warehouse and due to a lack of routine maintenance was neglected and abandoned. Today the restoration designed to accommodate the Civic Museum collections and the seat of the City Council has been completed. From an architectural point of view the palace, featuring a simple façade, inside represents two distinct eras: the ground floor dates back to the seventeenth century while the top floor has been dated between the end of the nineteenth and beginning of the twentieth centuries.