Palazzo Borriello

Historical palace of the sixteenth century consists of timeless elegance.

Palazzo Borriello is a 16th century noble palace, the most evocative of all Colliano. Its neoclassical structure, unchanged since its foundation at the end of the sixteenth century, stands out over the rest of the village. It is located close to Corso Umberto I, the main street of Colliano, in the center of Piazza Epifani. It is preceded by a graceful external court, in front of the mountain on which it is built the historical center of the country, the fraction of Collianello, characterized by the presence of the remains of the Norman castle that rises to peak on the panorama below.

Colliano is a charming village in the province of Salerno with a thousand-year history: founded in the first century AD, numerous archaeological finds, including tombs, funeral monuments, urns and parts of ancient buildings of worship tell the presence of a Roman colony, headed by gens Collia, from which the town takes its name. The current conformation of Colliano and its most enchanting village Collianello is due to the arrival of the Saracens in the Lombard era, when the population, to defend itself, decided to castle on the hill. It was here that a small fortification overhanging the valley was built, with stone houses and alleys around it, enlarged in 1140 in the Norman period, with the construction of a wall, gates and bastions to defend the whole territory. Of this work remains the door of the Saints, today better known as Porta Fontana because from there people passed to reach the public fountain in addition to the remains of the castle.

Despite the various alterations and seismic events, such as the catastrophic one of 1466 that saw the almost total destruction of the village of Collianello, here time seems to have stopped centuries ago, at the time when the streets, The houses embedded in the rock and the castle quivered with voices, work, stories, life.

The entrance to Palazzo Borriello is through an ancient wooden door of the sixteenth century, original and carefully restored, set in an arch in local white stone. Everything in this building has remained unchanged over time, and going through its halls is like taking a dip in the past. It was built at the beginning of the sixteenth century by the will of a noble local family of which, unfortunately, not much is known. Certainly, given the sumptuousness of the interiors and the richness of the decorative apparatus of the rooms, the Borriello family had to be linked to the great cultural centers not only of Campania but of the rest of Italy. Evidence of this is the internal courtyard, immediately in front of the entrance, which recalls the Florentine Renaissance architecture, not only in the round arches, but also in the colors.