PALAZZO CIAMBRA-GIUDECCA

Built in the sixteenth century by the Ciambra family, the coat of arms can still be seen on the portal. Its architecture testifies the ties between the Iberian peninsula and the city. The rusticated diamond shapes on the walls of the tower and the particulars of the decorations on windows and portals recall the Plateresque style. The building is called “of the Giudecca” because it was built in the old Jewish ghetto after the expulsion of the Jewish community from the city by the edict of Ferdinando the Catholic (1492). The splendid building, which today is in a very bad state, was bought in 1901 by the mayor Eugenio Scio on behalf of the town council of Trapani through a ministerial grant which was granted by the honourable Nunzio Nasi, who was then the Minister for Education. In the post-war period, the town council of Trapani transferred ownership of the building to the owners of a local printing press to pay off debts accumulated during the war.