Inside Palazzo Lucà Dazio: Art, Stories, Food and Wine

A French family, a marchese who never stopped collecting, and letters that link the house to Gabriele D’Annunzio. Join them to find out what lies behind the door.

Some houses become museums; this one is still a home.

Palazzo Lucà Dazio stands at the entrance to San Vito Chietino, overlooking the Trabocchi Coast, and for generations it has remained almost entirely private. Today the family opens it to a small number of guests for an evening of art, family stories and a tasting of their own wine and olive oil in the palazzo’s historic cellar.

A Plain Face, an Extraordinary Heart

The palazzo was built over a sixteenth-century house and holds the history of a family that came to Abruzzo in the 1500s. The exterior gives nothing away, but inside, generations of additions and decoration peaked in the late 1800s.

To reach the piano nobile, you climb a staircase lined with portraits of the ancestors and the family tree; by the top, you will know who is who.

• The red salon: a Romantic-era room with red damask, gilded stucco and hand-painted Castelli maiolica, beneath tempera-painted vaults.
• The study-library: old books, nineteenth-century officers’ uniforms and archive letters connecting the family with Gabriele D’Annunzio. The Marchese will explain.
• The kitchen: nineteenth-century copper pans shining against maiolica tiles, with period utensils still in their original places.

A Collector’s House

Marchese Massimo gathered much of what you will see, and together it forms one of the most important private collections of art and maiolica in Abruzzo.

• Paintings: Neapolitan Baroque works from the 1600s and 1700s, alongside 19th-century Abruzzese paintings, reflecting the family’s long ties with Naples.
• Ceramics: pieces by the great Castelli masters, from the Renaissance to Neoclassicism.
• In every room: family costumes, Italian furniture, 18th-century Neapolitan porcelain, sculpture and silver.

Your Hosts

Marchese Massimo Lucà Dazio and his daughter, Mirta, will personally welcome you into their home, with Vincenzo de Pompeis.

Then, Down to the Cellar

The visit ends on the ground floor. First, the museum of the family’s rural life; then the historic cellar, where Mirta, who runs the family estate, hosts a private tasting of the produce from their land:

• The wines: Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Cerasuolo and Pecorino
• The green gold: the estate’s own extra virgin olive oil

Your Visit to Palazzo Lucà Dazio

6:15 pm: Welcome at Palazzo Lucà Dazio, followed by time with the Marchese, Mirta, and Vincenzo, and a visit to the rural-life museum. The evening ends with a tasting and convivio in the cellar. Choose from:

• Piccolo Convivio: mixed antipasti and two wines, €60
• Convivio Regolare: mixed antipasti, a pasta course, dessert buffet and three wines, €90

Prefer lunch? We can arrange the convivio as lunch instead.

Why Come?

• Truly private: a family home that is normally closed, opened by the family themselves.
• A rare collection: paintings and maiolica you will not find in any public gallery.
• From their land to your glass: the family’s own wine and oil, served in their historic cellar.
• The view: the Belvedere, a short walk away, overlooks the Trabocchi Coast.

Advance booking is essential, at least two weeks before your visit. Places are limited, out of respect for the house and to keep the storytelling intimate.

Ready to step behind the door? Book your visit by emailing abruzzoescape.it@gmail.com or calling +39 352 265 1112.