Palazzo Marchesale

The Palazzo Marchesale embodies a history spanning over a thousand years, shaped by successive phases of construction that transformed it from a defensive tower protecting a small adjoining settlement into the elegant noble residence of the Venusio Marquises in the 18th century.

Analysis of the different masonry types incorporated within the building has made it possible to trace its construction back at least to the Norman period. Between the late 11th and early 12th centuries, Hugh of Frassineto, the first Dominus of Turi and Frassineto, commissioned the initial core of the castellum. This was built around a pre-existing tower of Byzantine or Lombard origin, located at the highest point of the settlement and used as a lookout and defensive structure for the emerging village. Archaeological excavations in this area have revealed pottery fragments dating to the Byzantine period.

With the arrival of the Aragonese in the Kingdom of Naples and the settlement of the Moles family, Barons of Turi from 1546, the castle began its transformation into a noble palace. The structure was expanded to meet the administrative needs of the new feudal lords: the ground floor and underground levels housed feudal administrative offices, the Governor’s seat, detention cells, stables, and service areas, while the first floor was dedicated to lavishly decorated and furnished state rooms.

Following the definitive sale of the fief, the property passed in 1752 to the Venusio family of Matera, a wealthy banking family. They initiated a major expansion of the palace, including the opening of a new and still-visible city gate known as Portanova, and undertook a substantial effort to erase traces of the building’s medieval past. This resulted in further refinement of the palace in accordance with 18th-century artistic and architectural principles, with the addition of windows and large openings crowned by curved pediments, long and spacious balconies with elaborate wrought-iron railings, and richly decorated interiors in the reception rooms of the piano nobile.