Sedile di Porta

Sorrento’s first meeting place for noble families

When you walk through the streets of Sorrento you will see reminders of the town’s history wherever you look.

In the busy main square, Piazza Tasso, there is a plaque commemorating the spot where the noble families used to meet to deal with the administrative affairs of the town in the 16th century.

The plaque commemorating the spot where
 Sorrento's noble families used to meet

Near the corner where Piazza Tasso joins Via San Cesareo there is a reminder that the old Sedile di Porta, the Porta Seat, used to be located there.

It was named Sedile di Porta because it was built close to the main gate of the town, the Porta, in what used to be Largo del Castello, Castle Square. Its emblem was a door with three keys on a gold background.

After the meeting places for nobility were abolished, the building was turned into a prison and it later became a guard house for the urban militia.

It is now the home of a private club, the Circolo Sorrentino.

Under the rule of the House of Anjou, Sorrento was administered by noble families appointed by the King of Naples.

Some noble families broke away from Sedile de Porta after disagreements about the administration of the town and founded a seat of their own, Sedile Dominova, which still stands on the corner of Via San Cesareo and Largo Padre Reginaldo Giuliani.

Porta seat is now the home of Circolo Sorrentini

This beautiful building became the headquarters of the Societa Operaia per il Mutuo Soccorso, a Mutual Aid Society for Workers, in 1877. You will see gentlemen playing cards against the backdrop of frescos in the open air loggia at the front when you go past.

Sedile Dominova in Sorrento is now considered to be the best preserved seat of the nobility still standing in southern Italy.