If we talk about the Romanin Jacur palace in Padua, we immediately think of the one located in front of the tomb of Antenore, above the Feltrinelli bookshop, which is actually the house where the first Romanin Jacur, the three brothers Michelangelo, Emanuele and Leone, were born and lived. and later their descendants. It is one of the most illustrious families of the city, which marked the economic history throughout the twentieth century.
For more than a century, however, a branch of the family has moved to Prato della Valle. Around 1880 the house overlooking the Prato, next to the Loggia Amulea had been purchased by Mario Treves dei Bonfili who came to live there with his wife Matilde del Valle: the building then consisted only of a first floor above with attics.
As the main floor insisted on the portico, a hole had been made in the floor to see who came from Prato della Valle: these were the prodromes of the video-intercom, waiting for the technology to offer more practical and less costly solutions.
In 1927, the daughter of Mario and Matilde, Lea, who was married to Michelangelo Romanin Jacur, known as "Mecche" (son of Emanuele), had work done in the parents' house to obtain a second floor from the attics and build it above the new. In the meantime, the new couple went to live in Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.
A new wing was also added to the original building, where the children of Lea and Mecche would later go to live. In 1935 Lea and Michelangelo escaped the racial persecutions against the Jews by hiding in the countryside. Meanwhile, the building had been entrusted to the maid, who had courageously defended the house in front of the German soldiers: between 1943 and 1945, in the most willing two-year period of the war, both German and English troops established their headquarters in Romanin palace. Officers and horses stayed there, so much so that when the war was over they left a cripple there as well.
When the legitimate owners then returned, they found that the whole building had been mined, especially in the boilers (where the garages are now located), and that the doors and chandeliers had been taken away. It was a real looting, which went unpunished: as indeed happened for many historic buildings in the city, during the fascism.
After the exile, the first to set foot in Padua were Lea and Mecche, soon followed by Leo and Silvana who, in the meantime married in Switzerland, came to live in the same building. The great dynasty had recomposed itself. Today Davide (son of Lea and Silvana) reside in the palace with his family, while in the house opposite, across the courtyard lives the other son Giorgio with his wife and daughters.