DE LIETO Palace | Museo | Maratea
Palazzo De Lieto - the Maratea Museum
Palazzo De Lieto, now a museum and exhibition venue, was built by the De Lieto family in the 18th century to house Maratea’s first hospital.
In the 19th century, the hospital became a district hospital, before moving to the former Paolotti convent in the following century (see the Church of San Francesco). The palace then housed the primary school until the mid-1960s. It subsequently stood unused until its restoration in the 1990s, becoming the property of the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and serving as a venue for cultural activities and museum exhibitions.
Set on a large rocky outcrop in Maratea’s historic centre, near the Mother Church, the building retains its imposing stone entrance, with a large wooden door surmounted by stone and tuff lintels. Palazzo De Lieto has two storeys with spacious halls; the upper floor also features long loggias whose arches are supported by carved piers.
MUSEUM
HAPPY PALACE
Via Under the Great Bell Tower
Old Town
PERMANENT: Marine archeology
The rooms of the museum house as a permanent collection numerous lead anchors and transport amphorae and other finds resulting from the recovery operations from the seabed adjacent to the island of Santo Janni.
The most conspicuous part of the exhibition is a collection of anchors and anchor circles from the "Santo Janni" deposit made up of over 60 artifacts from the second century BC to the second century AD, perhaps the largest deposit in the Mediterranean. There are also maritime transport amphorae always from the Roman era and the bone finds of animals recovered in a cave in Marina di Maratea, dating back to the Pleistocene period.
Angelo Brando Art Gallery
The Museum of Palazzo De Lieto also houses the Pinacoteca dedicated to the artist Angelo Brando, a native of the city.
The artist's paintings are kept on the ground floor, in a permanent exhibition consisting of 34 works covering the time span 1909 - 1946), to which four other paintings, two plaster sculptures, scattered sheets of a notebook of drawings and some relics that belonged to the artist's family, all on loan from their respective owners.
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USEFUL INFO FOR VISIT
Address: Via Gafaro 1, Maratea’s historic centre
Admission: Free
Days and opening hours:
in summer Tuesday-Sunday 10:00-13:00 /17:00-21:00;
Weekly closing day: Monday
other periods: by appointment
Reservation required: None
Phone for appointments and visit requests: +39 0973 877676
Managed by: MIBAC - REGIONAL MUSEUM DIRECTorate OF BASILICATA
Operative Center for the Supervision of Fine Arts in Maratea
{data updated to August 6, 2025}
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