MUSEO ECCLESIASTICO DIOCESANO - Sezione di ORSARA DI PUGLIA

The Palazzo Varo is located on Largo San Michele, an area that associated in the Middle Ages, to the Abbey of the Angel; the building dates from the 16th century and is a work of considerable architectural value which still reflects the Renaissance style in the shape of the façade, as well as the nearby “Fontana Nuova”. Unfortunately, the structure has undergone many changes over the centuries by the family owners, whom altered the original plan: what is left is the front door with a nobility lintel and the stone staircase inside the cellars that open onto the square. The Varo family sold the property to the Diocese of Troy in early 1900, it was then settled by the "oblate" nuns who used it as a convent and boarding school. In the early sixties the sisters moved elsewhere and the Bishop of Troy rented the property to the Ministry of Education, which used it as the headquarters for the "Sacro Cuore" Middle State School. In the late sixties, the Middle School found its proper location in a purpose-built school building and the Palazzo Varo became the foundation of ANSPI (Associazione Nazionale San Paolo Italia: a civil and ecclesial association). In the seventies a few rooms on the first floor of the building were used to host the Sant’Angelo Museum