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Palazzo Bellini
During the restoration of approximately 500 m2 on two levels within the Palazzo Bellini, both conservation work and newly introduced elements were shared and discussed with the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape for the provinces of Biella, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola and Vercelli. This collaboration allowed us to identify the historical strata to be found in the Palazzo and find the best strategies to complete a restoration in which past and present could coexist and complement one another.
On the main floor, the entrance room is significant: walls and ceiling have been stripped, bringing to light 18th century decorations and stuccos. In the adjoining hall, 18th century floral motifs coexist with 19th century decorations consisting of faux iridescent tapestry and geometric motifs on the coffered wooden ceiling. The original terracotta tile flooring in these rooms has been restored.
The other rooms had decorated 19th century ceilings which were also restored. Here, recent industrial terracotta floor tiles have been replaced by natural hydraulic lime flooring (pastellone). In the lower part of the tower on the north side, the ancient staircase of gneiss blocks has been retained.
In the upper part, in the absence of the original steps, a painted iron staircase was created. This operation reflects the design approach of Studio Binocle. All the new design elements of Palazzo Bellini are made of iron: lighting bodies, elements that conceal the fan coils, new ceilings.
Palazzo Bellini, in its present form, is the result of a late 19th-century renovation of a medieval building that had already been transformed in the 18th century. In the mid-19th century the complex belonged to the Bellini family and also included other buildings arranged around four courtyards, occupying almost an entire block in the area west of Oleggio's main square, today's Piazza Martiri della Libertà. The building's current neoclassical appearance dates from the design of Stefano Ignazio Melchioni in the last decade of the 18th century.
The space occupied today by SPA coincides with the palace's residential area. Recent conservation and restoration work has brought different layers to light, thanks to the removal of the 20th-century plaster.
In the antechamber cleaning revealed ten 18th-century ovals with depictions of ancient mythology whose interpretation is still being studied. The coffered ceiling, made of tempera-painted wood, can be dated to the first half of the 19th century and matches well the painted faux tapestry, evidence of the late 19th-century taste for the recovery of antiquity. In an adjacent space, a depiction with blue arabesques on a light background has emerged, in which motifs from the coeval decorations of some Lake Maggiore palaces can be recognised.
The second floor, accessible by a service staircase, features a similar layout to the first. It was originally reserved for the Bellini family archive and for the servants.