Once the town hall, today the conservatoire – the building that gives the square its name and, to this day, its sound.
The name
The Palazzo del Sedile dominates the square of the same name. For centuries it was the seat of municipal self-government; the name goes back to the sedile, the assembly of the town’s leading families – the place where the city was decided long before there was a town hall in the modern sense.
Façade
Two small bell towers, clocks and figure niches articulate the front; a coat of arms sits above the passage. The building was remodelled several times, most recently in the eighteenth century – the present form is baroque, the core older. The figures in the niches are allegories of the kind common on administrative buildings of the period.
Today
Inside works the city’s music conservatoire. Walk across the square in the afternoon and you hear practice sessions through the windows – a side effect that sets this square apart from any other in Matera and makes it one of the pleasantest places to sit.
Setting
Piazza del Sedile lies halfway between Piazza Vittorio Veneto and the Civita. You pass it whether you mean to or not.
Read on
- Piazza del Sedile – the square in front
- The palaces of the upper town – the other palazzi
- The old town of Matera – the upper town around it
