Palazzo Varano, Municipal palace in Predappio, Italy

Palazzo Varano is a three-story municipal palace in Predappio with a grand staircase made from gray stone sourced from Viterbesi quarries. The building contains various administrative offices and rooms furnished in the style typical of that period and intended for government work.

The building's history is documented only from the 19th century, when it served at times as housing for the commune's poor and then as an elementary school where Rosa Maltoni, mother of Benito Mussolini, taught. The Mussolini family moved in after his birth in 1883 and lived there for about twenty years. In 1926 the architect Florestano Di Fausto rebuilt the rough, unplastered local-stone structure into the municipal seat seen today.

The name Varano is of Roman origin, like Dovia, the nearby hamlet where Benito Mussolini was born. In the 1920s a golden eagle was kept in a large cage beside the palace as a symbol of the regime; the rusted cage still stands, partly hidden by vegetation. The garden's geometric ornaments replaced earlier fasces decorations.

The palace stands on Piazza Sant'Antonio beside the church of the same name, on raised ground above the village, and is reached by the 1929 staircase designed by Florestano Di Fausto. The surrounding garden serves as the municipal park. Seen from the palace tower, the staircase forms an arrow pointing toward Rocca delle Caminate.

A rusted metal cage near the palace entrance once held a live eagle, connecting the building to symbols of Roman government traditions. This curious detail hints at the political messaging that shaped how the space was presented to visitors.