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Palazzo Guarini – Underground Olive Press

Palazzo Guarini was built in the XVI century, during a period in which the town underwent a general urban and architectural renewal. The bulk of the building, distributed on two floors, is enriched with decorative elements of great impact. On the facade, on the first floor, there are three windows framed by sixteenth-century cornices and another, larger, with a balustrade supported with spiral corbels. The same window has an inscription CONSERVA DOMINE and is embellished with a lunette with a heraldic crest.


In the semi-hypogeous rooms located in the cellars of the palazzo there is an impressive olive press which remained in use until the XIX century and one can still see the tanks for the pressing of the olives, the large grinding stone, the press, and on the floor, the channels that carried the oil towards the settling tanks. A fireplace also remains that was used to maintain a warm temperature and avoid the coagulation of the oil, facilitating the work of the nachiro (the boss of the of the olive press) and the workers skilled at extracting the olive oil. 

The palazzo was inhabited until the end of the 1700s by the noble Gaza family and in particular, the castellan Giovanni Battista and Giuseppe, both of whom didn’t have any male children resulting in the end of the family line.

Gallery

Underground Olive Press (360VR)