Caroelli Palace

History

The palace dates back to the 17th or 18th century and is an example of Baroque architecture. It was the country residence of the Caroelli counts, feudal lords of Vespolate and Garbagna Novarese.

The Caroellis later sold the building to the Moretti family of Milan: in the early 1840s it was the property of Enea Moretti.

A century later Ernesto Colli reports it as belonging to the Buslacchi family and in 1978 to the Costadone family.

Location

The building is located within a block bordered to the east by Via Matteotti, to the south by Via Chiesa, to the north by Via Scuole, and to the west by a system of private roads, some of which are used by the building itself. The block forms the southernmost branch of the historic center (the ancient core, in documents) of Garbagna and includes other buildings.

Description

The building has an L-shaped plan, composed of a substantially rectangular building with the main side (public façade) facing east; another building, also substantially rectangular, is grafted onto this wing at 90°. The latter constitutes the private sector of the ancient residence, with a façade featuring a portico on the ground floor. In front of the southern wing is a quadrangular courtyard with access from Via Matteotti via a gate. The external area (garden) starts from the junction between the east and south buildings, with free development in a north and west direction.

The facade is divided longitudinally: the lower part is more sober and consists of a ground floor and a mezzanine, the upper part has a central balcony and curvilinear mouldings above the windows.

The eastern facade is defined by a moulded cornice with monumental chimneys, on two levels, and is punctuated by rustate lesenes. In the lower part there are simply framed windows, while in the upper part, in addition to the aforementioned balcony, the openings are decorated with curvilinear friezes. This side of the building, overlooking the main road of the village, is completed by the surrounding wall, in which a driveway is created, defined by a frame and two hints of volutes on the sides.

On the south side, there is a large portico with segmental arches supported by stone columns, in a simple style. The portico overlooks the internal courtyard, which once housed the service wings, now replaced by more recent buildings. The keep's roof is topped by two stone pine cones. From the portico, a grand staircase decorated with a wrought-iron railing leads to the upper floor.

Inside, the rooms on the upper floor, originally reserved for the owners, are decorated with frescoes and stuccos in the Baroque style. These rooms retain their original elegance: they all open onto a central hall adorned with stuccos and frescoes with allegorical subjects on the ceiling and landscapes on the walls. The other rooms also have decorated ceilings, although the subjects are difficult to interpret. …

Caroelli family

The Caroelli family originally lived between Galliate and Romentino. Its members were classified as dominus and were spice merchants, priests, or doctors.

Regarding heraldry, Antonio Manno reports:

coat of arms: Azure with a silver castle accompanied, at the head by two gold stars; at the tip by a silver lamb;

crest: Black eagle, beaked, and black-limbed, red-tongued.

Giovanni Andrea was a wholesale rice and grain merchant. In 1612, he married Anna Gallina, the daughter of merchants, confirming the family's commercial vocation.

Alessandro, son of Giovanni Andrea, initially operated in the same business as his father. The wealth he accumulated allowed him to secure the Contado's Treasury contract from 1625 to 1635 and from 1646 to 1647. This allowed him to significantly increase his wealth.

Until the late 1650s, war and the need to maintain the army weighed heavily on Milan state's economy. In the countryside, the resulting taxation caused many problems for families, who were often forced into debt to meet the payments. Instead, it benefited tax collectors, like the Caroellis, who reaped enormous profits. The Contado opposed this state of affairs, filing a lawsuit against Alessandro, but it was to no avail, as it was conveniently hushed up in Milan, thanks to the connections Caroelli had managed to build in powerful circles. He was then able to continue his activities and consolidate his position by entering the highly lucrative Rimplazzo business.

In 1637, Alessandro married Veronica Bagliotti, a member of the city's aristocracy, at great expense, precisely to signal his "ennoblement." Veronica was the sister of Margherita, married to the collegiate physicist Francesco Gallarati, and of Antonia, wife of the collegiate physicist Achille Avogadro.

His son Paolo Antonio was also the manager of the Rimplazzo in the 1640s. His daughter Arcangela married Carlo Francesco Massea from Finale Ligure.

Placido Luigi, son of Alessandro, studied law in Pavia and was a respected jurist in both Milan and Novara. Among his many offices and honors, he was named decurion of Novara and count of the fiefdom of Vespolate (Novara) in 1715. …