The Municipal Palace is one of the most important civil buildings in Collesano, but it began as a religious complex. It was built around the middle of the 16th century by initiative of Countess Susanna Gonzaga, with support from the town, and served as the Dominican convent until 1869.
After the suppression of the convent, the building was restructured as the municipal seat. Its current neo-Gothic facade belongs to the 1769 renovation, when the complex was given a second elevation and a more formal civic face.
Inside, the palace preserves paintings on wood and canvas by contemporary artists. The Sala dei Sindaci also keeps works by the local woodcarver Pino Valenti, a reminder that Collesano's public buildings often mix administration, art and local craft.
NoteExterior always visible. Interior depends on opening hours.
Former Dominican convent built around the mid-1500s; second storey added in 1769.
Functioned as a convent until the 1869 suppression of religious orders, then secularised for municipal use.
Hosts the "Sala dei Sindaci" with works by local woodcarver Pino Valenti and a 17th-century Transfiguration canvas.
In the 17th century the wider monastic complex hosted four religious orders simultaneously: Capuchins, Reformed Conventuals, Dominicans and Benedictines.
Timeline
1514–1515Susanna Gonzaga marries Pietro II Cardona, Count of Collesano.
mid-1500sA Dominican convent is built on Countess Susanna Gonzaga’s initiative, with the town’s support.
1600sCollesano’s monastic district hosts four orders at once: Capuchins, Reformed Conventuals, Dominicans and Benedictines.
1769A second storey is added to the convent.
1869The suppression of religious orders ends the Dominican use.
late 1800sThe complex is restructured as the Town Hall and given its neo-Gothic civic face (reported 1882, to a design by engineer Salemi Pace).
2004The Targa Florio Museum is inaugurated inside the same building.
People & families
Susanna Gonzaga (1485–1556)— Countess of Collesano, daughter of Gianfrancesco Gonzaga of Sabbioneta and Antonia Del Balzo; wife of Pietro II Cardona. Patron of this convent and of the church of San Domenico; the subject of a scholarly biography by Lina Scalisi.
Pietro II Cardona (c.1467–1522)— Count of Collesano, killed at the Battle of Bicocca near Milan in 1522.
Pino Valenti (b. 1947, Collesano)— local wood-inlay (tarsia) artist whose works hang in the Sala dei Sindaci, including a “Table of the Mafia’s Victims” (2001).
Stories & traditions
One building spans five centuries of Collesano power: a Renaissance countess’s convent that became the seat of the comune — and now shelters the Targa Florio Museum.
The council chamber keeps a 17th-century Transfiguration canvas; the Sala dei Sindaci turns local marquetry into civic memory.
In the 1600s the surrounding monastic quarter held four religious orders at once — a measure of how dense Collesano’s church life once was.
Visiting
HoursStandard municipal hours, mornings Mon–Fri
AdmissionPublic building
AccessSteps at the front entrance on Corso Vittorio Emanuele; ask at the municipal entrance for accessible access.
