Description
Palazzo Crozza is an elegant 19th-century mansion on Corso Cavour, in the center of La Spezia, home to the Ubaldo Mazzini Civic Library. Built as a noble family's country villa, it is worth a stop for its frescoed rooms, now part of the library.
On the facade, the marble balcony of the piano nobile stands out. It belongs to the old ballroom, frescoed by Cesare Agretti and now a reading room. Inside there is also a rich Ionic atrium, and the Ligurian terrazzo floors are still the original ones.
The Crozza family, who came from Tortona around 1815, had it built by the architect Carlo Piaggio: work was finished in 1890, when this was still countryside. Along the right side runs the carriage passage that led to the old stables.
In 1906 the palazzo passed to the city and took in the library, with the historian Ubaldo Mazzini as its first director. It also housed the Archaeological Museum, until the museum moved to the Castello San Giorgio in 1984.
On the facade, the marble balcony of the piano nobile stands out. It belongs to the old ballroom, frescoed by Cesare Agretti and now a reading room. Inside there is also a rich Ionic atrium, and the Ligurian terrazzo floors are still the original ones.
The Crozza family, who came from Tortona around 1815, had it built by the architect Carlo Piaggio: work was finished in 1890, when this was still countryside. Along the right side runs the carriage passage that led to the old stables.
In 1906 the palazzo passed to the city and took in the library, with the historian Ubaldo Mazzini as its first director. It also housed the Archaeological Museum, until the museum moved to the Castello San Giorgio in 1984.