The palace in which the Circle is housed was built in 1416 and has changed its intended several times over the centuries.
Until 1767-68 it was the seat of the Town Hall, then it became the magistrate’s house and later a mandatory prison.
In 1841 some rooms were rented to the Circle of Culture as a meeting place for the nobility. It was frequented by the writer Luigi Capuana and was named after him at the end of the Second World War.
It was in these rooms that, in 1859, some of Mineo’s notables, including the young Capuana, secretly formed a committee in favour of the unification of Italy.
In June 1860 the committee promoted a collection of material contributions in support of Giuseppe Garibaldi, who had landed in Marsala a month earlier.
The building preserves a fine Liberty style hall.
