Palazzo Massimi-Crescenzi

Palazzo Massimi-Crescenzi, located in Piazza Garibaldi, was built in the Renaissance period and was the noble residence of the Massimi, an ancient family who gave religious and municipal administrators to Controguerra between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. In the second half of the 19th century the family moved permanently to Atri and the palazzo was purchased by the Crescenzis.

From 11 September 1671, to the first decade of the eighteenth century, by will of Gian Loreto Massimi, the building was the seat of the monastic conservatory of San Nicola da Tolentino. The stone coat of arms placed above a door of the building probably dates back to this period. Another marquis coat of arms in terracotta, of the Flajani family, was installed on another door of the building in the second half of the 20th century.

Inside, the palace has a small courtyard with a well. The stately rooms have suggestive vaults and in the hypogea of ​​the building you can admire the caves, that is the ancient neviere or iceboxes, functional for the conservation of food. Some counter-war legends have it that the caves of Palazzo Massimi-Crescenzi are hundreds of meters long and that in ancient times they emerged outside the town, to allow communications with the outside world during sieges.