17. Bishop's Palace

In the second half of the 18th century, the Schininà family built the palace of the same name, later inherited by their children and divided into two parts. When the Diocese of Ragusa was created in 1950, half of the building was donated to the diocese, becoming the Bishop’s Palace and seminary.
The two-storey palace has a long façade on Via Roma (Fig. . a) with a sumptuous entrance portal in the centre (Fig. b) leading to the atrium (Fig. c) and a monumental staircase with a stone balustrade (Fig. d). The portal is defined by two pilasters with capitals decorated with floral elements, supporting a cornice above which is a curvilinear balcony. The balcony opening is framed by two pilasters supporting a broken archivolt (Fig. e).
On the façade, there are a total of six balconies, curved and supported by stone corbels, placed in correspondence with the openings on the ground floor.
The left part of the façade, which was never completed and is missing the first floor, comprises three openings and is covered by a terrace bordered by stone columns and railings (Fig. f).