In the heart of the historic center of Messina, just behind the Cathedral, exactly on Strada San Giacomo, stands the Calapaj-D'Alcontres Palace. What is its peculiarity? besides being unknown its author, this 18th-century palace is also among the very few buildings to have escaped the 1908 earthquake! It is also the only remaining example of a stately palace once inhabited by the city's aristocratic class. In its complexity, the three-tiered palace is important, massive, and imposing: indicative of those who inhabited it at the time of its construction in the late 18th century; in fact, the building was intended as the city residence of members of one of the city's oldest and most influential noble families, that of the Princes d'Alcontres.
Of very ancient nobility and origins that are lost in time, until the Norman era, the title of princes d'Alcontres in the Bruzi, along with that of marquis of Roccalumera and earls of Quintana, originally belonging to the La Rocca family, had been transmitted to the Messina lineage of the Stagno, following a marriage. The date of construction of the palace is unknown, but it is assumed that it was built in the second half of the 18th century, around 1770, and belonged to members of the branch related to the equally noble Calapaj family.
