Palazzina Azzurra

Palazzina Azzurra is a historic building in San Benedetto del Tronto, not far from the Albula stream, built between 1930 and 1934 in the rationalist style from a design by engineer Luigi Onorati. It is one of the most symbolic places in the city.

Commissioned by the Azienda Autonoma di Cura, Soggiorno e Turismo (Tourist Board) to improve its accommodation facilities, creating a place for meeting and entertainment, the Palazzina Azzurra was inaugurated on 1 September 1934.

In a purely rationalistic style, typical of the fascist era, it housed the bar, lounges, showers and toilets for gentlemen and ladies on the ground floor; the first floor, which was and still is accessed via a staircase, contained the reading room, two lounges, a dressing room and a smoking room. The living rooms, with their semi-circular walls and windows, provided an optimal view of the panorama of the new pine forest and the sports fields. A fairly exclusive architectural complex, but able to meet the various expectations of leisure, summer recreation, as well as sports and partying of the time.

The world war, which had subjected the city to heavy bombardment, affected all activities and yet a renewed enthusiasm was already beginning to characterise the post-war period. The building distinguished itself as one of the country's most sought-after evening venues and dance halls for the generations and musical culture that followed from the 1950s until the 1980s. After a period of decay, the restoration project undertaken by the Municipality of San Benedetto returned the structure to the population, with spaces for the promotion and dissemination of art, exhibition rooms, offices and services, all complemented by a park.

Over the past decades, the Palazzina Azzurra has become a venue for exhibitions of national and international artists. Exhibitions of various kinds are staged every year.