Paparo Palace

In Corso Umberto I, near the church of San Nicola, stands one of the largest palaces in Badolato, built in the 18th century by the Baron Paparo family. The entrance is marked by a monumental granite portal, unique for its two cylindrical columns.

In the second half of the last century, for several decades, it was rented to the archpriest Peronace, who turned it into a nursery school run by nuns. It was also used as an orphanage for boys with an attached primary school.

In the past it served as a “seaport” when the Paparo family divided their residence between Badolato, Rome and even Vibo, as they also owned property in this area of Calabria. It was also the residence of two members of parliament: Vincenzo, a deputy in the first parliament of unified Italy in the early 1860s, and Raffaele, a senator in the 1920s and 1930s.

Today, the noble but abandoned palace, almost in ruins but secured to prevent collapse, is owned by a property company that bought it in 2002. They are considering how and when to change the look and purpose of this vast property.

With the death of Marchesa Franca de Riso (29 August 2020), widow of the last Baron of the Paparo family, the two adopted heirs, cousins of the Marquises de Riso, now reside in the beautiful and spacious Paparo villa in Badolato Marina, overlooking the azure Ionian Sea.