The Palace
Palazzo D'Alessandro is a member of the Italian Historic Residences Association
As is often the case with historic buildings, the Palace is the result of a series of modifications and additions over time, for functional reasons and hereditary succession. The central core, with the fireplace room, the old kitchen and other rooms, some of which are now included in the neighboring property, date back to the 16th century. The most “visible” part of the Piano Nobile, with its decorations, is the “new quarter”, made in the early 1800s by Patriarch Giuseppe D’Alessandro, a notary.
LOCATION
Situated in Caporciano (AQ), surrounded by three national parks (Abruzzo, Lazio and Molise National Park, Gran Sasso and Laga Mountains National Park, Maiella National Park) by villages and cities of art, D’Alessandro Palace is the ideal base for visiting and experiencing Abruzzo to its full potential, whatever your interests: nature, outdoors, art, food and more.
Because of its location, perched in the center of the village, the Palace is configured on 4 floors, each of which also has an exit to the street or to one of the terraced garden levels.
D'ALESSANDRO PALACE
The main door opens onto a vaulted entrance hall, decorated with ancient artifacts that have belonged to the house for centuries (a fragment of a Roman tomb monument, with gladiatorial symbols). From here, going up a stone staircase one enters the Piano Nobile, with the common rooms and suites. In the dining room, with original cast-iron radiators from the early 1900s, reconditioned and in working order, paintings on the walls have been unearthed and restored. The fireplace room, an ancient winter hearth, is now a spacious living room filled with objects of historical and artistic interest. From here a door leads to the Palace’s small chapel, minimal in size but of great charm because of the very special decorations and sacred furnishings it houses.
The old kitchen, with its wall equipped with a fireplace and “fornacelle” is now a cozy breakfast room.
The garden will be available to our guests from mid-June, including the Jacuzzi.
A wonderful place for breakfast, relaxation during the day and even the cool of the evening.
The terraced garden is on 4 levels, with panoramic views of the Plain, in the direction of Civitaretenga/Navelli. The upper level is a semi-covered terrace featuring Portuguese flooring, laid by a “mestre calçeteiro” from Lisbon, in homage to the Portante-D’Alessandro family’s connection to the Lusitanian world.
Going down a beautiful old white stone staircase, one comes to a small square with a stone table and seat, near the door leading to the old kitchen.
A few steps below, there is a garden with seating and decorative stone elements, and a covered relaxation space, also equipped for outdoor cooking.
Descend further to the lower level where a wooden deck houses a large Jacuzzi tub, again with panoramic views of the valley. A pergola covers the passage from the “ground floor” doorway to the old driveway door.
The history of the building
The origins of the D’Alessandro family in Caporciano are certain and documented since the second half of the 1500s.
In fact, in an official document drawn up in Naples dated “twentieth-fourth April 1525” in the name of “Carolus Dei Gratia Rex ac Divina”, etc. etc. “Berardino D’Alessandro son of Alessandro, native of the land of Caporciano in the province of “Abruzzo Ulteriore”, quartermaster of the new militia of the mounted battalion of the Campobasso compartment” is recognized as enjoying guarantees such as various exemptions, immunities, powers and “royal privileges”…
In 1804, “Ferdinand IV, Dei Gratia Rex. “ etc. etc. “motu proprio” granted to “Bernardino D’Alessandro terrae Caporcinani” a “Privilegium Notariarj per Regnum”, the licence to exercise as a public notary.
The family’s prosperity was long based on this notarial work, reaching its peak with Joseph (1815-1880), whose eldest son Francis did not follow the profession, living off the income from the estate and, when it was no longer sufficient, by alienating land and real estate.
The years following World War I were of profound crisis, and with the death in1940 of Francesco D’Alessandro (Don Ciccuccio), an arduous succession of inheritance, lasting more than 20 years, opened, which led to the fragmentation of properties and of the Palace itself.
From the 1970s a recomposition of the ownership of the Palace began by Giuseppe Portante, who had married Ornella D’Alessandro, a work completed by his son, Andrea Portante D’Alessandro with the repurchase of the upper floor from the “cousins of Vittorito.”
The 2009 earthquake severely damaged a building in which the family had already invested heavily. Post-earthquake reconstruction and consolidation begins in 2018 and, after many vicissitudes, will not be substantially completed until late 2024.
Andrea Portante D’Alessandro was the only male heir of the D’Alessandro branch of Caporciano, and for this reason the family asked and obtained, by Presidential decree, to add the maternal name D’Alessandro to the paternal name Portante.
The palace and the remaining properties in Caporciano are thus today traced back to a D’Alessandro and his hereditary lineage.
Whether you choose one of our suites or one of the apartments, Palazzo D’Alessandro welcomes you with harmonious spaces, refined atmospheres and an elegance that accompanies every moment of your stay.
