Palazzo delle Paure

Walking from Piazza Cermenati towards the historic centre, at the corner with Piazza XX Settembre, the Palazzo delle Paure (the Palace of Fear) stands in all its splendour, with its tower adorned with windows, among them triple lancet windows. 

The architecture of the Palazzo delle Paure displays an eclectic mix of medieval and Renaissance features. Built in 1916, it housed the land registry, tax and customs offices where the people of Lecco went to pay their taxes (hence the name, the Palace of “Fear”!).

On the walls, the snake of the Visconti coat-of-arms in marble can be seen built into the wall here, dating from the fourteenth century. 

The Palazzo delle Paure is currently the site of various temporary exhibitions of a selection belonging to the Modern and Contemporary Art Section and the Graphics and Photography Section of the Municipal Gallery, with works by great artists such as Vitali, Chiappori, Stefanoni, Morlotti, Gastel, Galimberti, Berengo Gardin, Fontana and Scianna. 

The building also houses the Lecco Alpine Observatory and the Mountain Centre, where there is a collection of artefacts and documents owned by CAI Lecco, the local section of the Italian Alpine Club. The interactive exhibition provides all the ideas and the right inspiration to go out and explore the different paths that lead to the peaks of the mountains that surround Lecco!The Palazzo is now the location of Lecco’s Infopoint and Le Vie del Viandante.