Palazzo Arcais

The palace owes its name to the noble title of Don Damiano Nurra Conca, to whom the Savoy king Carlo Emanuele III granted the title of Marquis of Arcais with a diploma dated August 23, 1767. The title Arcais derives from the name of two fishponds, Arcai Mannu and Arcai Pittiu near Zerfaliu, part of the Marquis's real estate assets. The wealthy landowner from Oristano, who learned of the plan to populate the Sinis peninsula by the Kingdom of Savoy to better defend the Gulf of Oristano, always threatened by barbarian invasions, asked the same Viceroy of Sardinia, Alfieri di Cortemiglia, the enfeoffment of the territory by proposing to pay 216,000 Piedmontese lire, equivalent to 254,000 Sardinian scudi. Don Damiano Nurra Conca's residence was built in Corso Umberto, in the heart of the city. His generosity also contributed to the construction of a church and convent, donated to the Carmelite Order on April 27, 1782. The Latin inscription found in the Church of the Carmel indicates the place where Don Damiano Nurra d'Arcais was buried on June 15, 1790. The building has an austere façade, slightly enlivened by the sculpted expositions in red trachyte stone; a decidedly more frivolous touch is given instead by the semicircular balconies that decorate the openings on the ground floor. A bell-shaped dome illuminates the internal staircase, which forks after the first ramp and leads to the upper floors of the building. Currently, the building belongs to the Provincial Administration of Oristano.
Source: comune.oristano.it/it/amministrazione/luoghi/luogo/Palazzo-Arcais