Palazzo Vermexio, Baroque town hall on Cathedral Square in Syracuse, Italy.
Palazzo Vermexio is a Baroque structure on Ortygia island that serves as the city's town hall. Its facade displays ornamental shells and wrought-iron balconies arranged across two floors.
Construction took place between 1629 and 1633, replacing an earlier senate building that once stood elsewhere. Giovanni Vermexio directed the design and gave the site its Baroque character.
The building is named after its architect and stands as a symbol of the city's government. The ornate halls inside reveal how those in power once conducted their work and governed the community.
The structure sits on Cathedral Square and is easily reached on foot from the old town. Parts of the interior can be viewed during certain times, so checking access beforehand is helpful.
On the left corner of the cornice, Giovanni Vermexio carved a tiny lizard, called scuppiuni in Sicilian dialect, as a stone signature. The nickname referred to the architect's unusual thinness and height. The niches of the upper floor were meant for statues of the Kings of Spain by Gregorio Tedeschi, but he completed only the double-headed imperial eagle.
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