Sedile Dominova
Sorrento
Hidden gemHistory & archaeology
The story
The only surviving noble sedile in Campania, an open sixteenth-century loggia with a frescoed dome and majolica tiles, today a club for the town's elders on the corner of two alleys.
Access
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The story
The Sedil Dominova, in the centre of Sorrento, is the only Neapolitan 'seat' to have survived in its original form: the open loggia where, from the fourteenth century, the nobles of the city gathered to govern it. It was born in the fourteenth century, after the families of the western part abandoned the old seat of Porta, and took the name of Domus Nova.
What to see
The sixteenth-century loggia, with the frescoed and majolica-tiled dome and the arches open onto via San Cesareo, is a rare document of the civic life of ancient Sorrento. It is admired from the road, in the pedestrian heart of the old centre.
Tips
It is in via San Cesareo, the street of the workshops of the centre: you cross it while strolling. A look at the frescoed dome is worth the stop. Sorrento is explored entirely on foot.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Sedil Dominova of Sorrento?
An open loggia where from the Middle Ages the nobles of the city gathered; it is the only Neapolitan 'seat' preserved in its original form.
Since when does the Sedil Dominova exist?
Since the fourteenth century, when the noble families of the western part of Sorrento built a new one, the Domus Nova.
Where is the Sedil Dominova?
In via San Cesareo, in the old centre of Sorrento.
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