Palazzo Polara
On the left side of the Cathedral of San Giorgio stands Palazzo Polara on whose pediment the family coat of arms with the polar star stands out. It is a late Baroque style building, introduced by an elegant staircase. The facade, a scenographic whole with the monumental staircase and the façade of the Cathedral of San Giorgio dominates the lower part of the historic center in a suggestive glance.
Its central location offers a unique view over the city of Modica. The history of the Palace has its roots in the seventeenth century and originally its appearance was different from the current one. After the great earthquake of 1693, which devastated the Val di Noto, razing most of the cities to the ground, the noble Castro family, knights and important landowners in Sicily, built their home in Modica. The original structure was that of a villa in the city: a single large body, on three levels, surrounded on two sides by a large garden, another side housed the quarters for the horses and the depots for the carriages.
In 1890 Francesco Castro-Polara, the eldest of three children, married the very young Donna Grazietta Grimaldi. Donna Grazietta belonged to one of the most illustrious Modican families of the time, descended from a cadet branch of the Grimaldi Princes of Monaco. Following their marriage, the knight Francesco Castro-Polara and his wife decided to make important changes to the Palace, enlarging it and giving it its current appearance, more in line with the Art Nouveau taste of the time. The renovation and modernization works ended in 1903, the date shown on the main floor entrance. In 1917 the knight Francesco Castro-Polara died, leaving his wife Grazietta widow and childless. The Woman, who did not want to remarry, dedicated her life to study, spirituality, faith and caring for the neediest. She was a great benefactress and contributed to the sustenance and maintenance of the studies of numerous religious, seminarians and young lay people from Modica.
Upon the death of Donna Grazietta Grimaldi – the penultimate descendant of the Grimaldi barons of Calamezzana – in 1960, the Palazzo was inherited by her nephew, the lawyer Raffaele Tommasi Rosso, who lived there until her death, retaining much of the original furniture, entire collections of porcelain and cutlery of absolute value. The Palace still belongs to the direct descendants of Raffaele Tommasi Rosso, who keep alive the memory and style of their ancestors.
Good walk !
