Palazzo Solimena

The Palazzo Solimena is a historic seventeenth-century palace in the Avvocata district, on San Potito Hill in Naples. Originally a block of houses, it was purchased and expanded by Andrea De Riso in 1638. In 1710, the painter Francesco Solimena bought the property and had it remodeled to his own designs, with the structural engineer Giacomo Farina serving as an adviser. The facade has four bays and four stories, crowned by a portal with a broken basket arch and rusticated stonework. Inside, a courtyard under rectangular vaults and an octagonal staircase define the look of the building. On the second floor (the first floor above ground level in the European sense), you can admire nineteenth-century frescoes, while the balconies are made of piperno marble.