Palazzo Municipale

The Palazzo Municipale stands on the site of the Palazzo Giuratorio, or Palace of the Jurors, which originated between the 13th and 14th centuries as the seat of Erice's civic government. The medieval complex included a tower with a belfry and a loggia, and, together with the Chiesa Matrice and the Castle of Venus, formed one of the town's three principal centres of public life. Over the centuries the original building was altered and partly demolished.

Until the middle of the 19th century, the municipal administration of Monte San Giuliano, as Erice was then known, was housed in the Balio Towers. Around 1861 it moved to premises on Piazza della Loggia, and in 1874–75 the complex was enlarged through the incorporation of the neighbouring Palazzo dei Marchesi Pilati. The new municipal building accommodated the Cordici Museum and the Vito Carvini Municipal Library on the ground floor, while the upper floor contained the council chamber, municipal offices and a municipal theatre.

The theatre was transferred to another building in 1940, while the Cordici Museum moved to its present home in the former Convent of the Third Order of Saint Francis between 2011 and 2015. A marble plaque installed on the façade in 1910 commemorates the 875 volunteers from Erice who joined Giuseppe Garibaldi's campaign of 1860 and fought at the Battle of Calatafimi. Today, the Palazzo Municipale continues to serve as the seat of Erice's municipal administration.