– Castiglione delle Stiviere
Palazzo Pastore
The Palace was built in the mid-19th century by the rich Pastore family, landowners and silk workers from Mantua. This stately home stands on pre-existing buildings, referred to in the Teresian land register as “house with courtyard” and “house with shop”; during the restoration of the building carried out in 1974, pictorial fragments dating back to the 15th-16th century were found, now preserved on the ground floor of the town hall. The nineteenth-century building is structured according to the “courtyard” typology, i.e. with an internal courtyard, and overlooks, with the Italian garden, the large Pastore Park, previously a place of leisure for the family and now a delightful public green space. The sober and elegant façade overlooks Via Ascoli with a marble portal that leads into the octagonal entrance hall and, from here, into the internal courtyard and garden. To the right of the atrium, a grand staircase leads to the main floor of the building.
The reception and residence rooms of the Pastore family feature refined decorations, restored to their original splendor by the restorations of the 1990s. The building, purchased by the Municipal Administration in 1969, is now home to the Municipal Library, as well as a center of cultural and educational initiatives.