Palazzo Tomitano - Monte di Pietà

A number of old buildings, the ancient Fondaco delle Biade and a “private religious retreat for only ten people” (built in 1542 with money left by a rich merchant, Andrea Crico) were transformed into one building, Palazzo Tomitano. The original external decoration, restored during a joint Italian-Austrian project (Interreg 3A), was created using graffito technique; it includes imitation architectural features, and the now faded polychrome images of a Madonna and Child and Angels, St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata and a Pietà. A small statue by Domenico Falce of Beato Bernardino Tomitano stands above the tympanum of the main entrance.

The main hall, entered from Via Paradiso, has frescos of grotesques and coats of arms and contains the original wooden counters of the Monte di Pietà pawnbrokers. The walls of the elegant cellar are decorated with 17^th-century motifs in imitation of tapestry, and the vaulted ceiling is completely painted. One of the lunettes above the door contains a Resurrection of Christ.