Turconi Palace

The building now known as Palazzo Turconi was originally conceived as a hospice for the poor thanks to testamentary dispositions left in writing in Paris in 1803 by Count Alfonso Maria Turconi, but it was not built until the mid 19th century, designed by architect Luigi Fontana.
Inaugurated in 1860, the neoclassical building served as the Cantonal Hospital for the Mendrisiotto for a century.
Since 1996, the building has been used as the seat of the Academy of Architecture of the Università della Svizzera Italiana and only since then has it been named after Count Alfonso Maria Turconi.
Initially used as a teaching space for the Academy's design ateliers, since 2021 it has housed the Library of the Academy of Architecture on the first floor.