PALAZZO SAN MICHELE

 

Palazzo San Michele, now home to the administrative offices of the Petruzzelli Foundation, has a long and layered history that closely mirrors the story of Bari itself.

Returned to the city after a meticulous restoration—made possible thanks to the support of the Italian Ministry of Culture and the Apulia Region—the building was donated by the Municipality of Bari to the Foundation in 2011 and has housed its administrative offices since 2018.

Due to the limited historical records and the many modifications it has undergone over the centuries, tracing its exact history and original size is a complex task.

The building stands on the remains of the Monastery of San Benedetto, founded between 978 and 979 by Abbot Gerolamo. It welcomed the first Benedictine monks who arrived in Bari from the Monastery of Santa Sofia in Benevento. Notably, it was here that the monks safeguarded the relics of Saint Nicholas for two years—after they were smuggled from Myra in 1087—while the Basilica of Saint Nicholas was under construction.

It is believed that the Monastery housed an important scriptorium, where miniated manuscripts were produced, possibly including the famous Exultet scrolls, now preserved in the Diocesan Museum of Bari.

Today, only the central core of the original building remains visible: the first church of the Monastery, two sides of the cloister, parts of a second church, and the underlying crypt. The remains of the cloister were uncovered during archaeological excavations in 1908, which also brought to light the apse of a 10th-century church—the first to be built on the site.

Of the cloister structure, the southern and eastern wings have survived, distinguished by an eye-catching quadrifora (four-light window) with double-arched frames. The window is notable for its slender columns of varying thickness and “crutch-shaped” capitals. These capitals, dating back to the 11th and 13th centuries, feature zoomorphic ornaments, typical of medieval iconography.

In the 18th century, the medieval structure was demolished and rebuilt in the form we see today.

In 1860, the convent was occupied by Garibaldi’s troops and later repurposed to house the offices of the Military Engineering Corps. It was closed in 1985 due to serious structural instability.

The restoration of Palazzo San Michele (formerly San Benedetto), carried out between October 2014 and December 2016, offered a rare opportunity to remove numerous 20th-century additions that had obscured the architectural and artistic value of the site. The intervention successfully restored the building to its former splendour.