According to some scholars, the palace was built in two phases, between the 17th and 18th centuries, on the site of an ancient tower. Its layout is irregular and polygonal. On Via della Posta, five arches stand out, while the entrance is located in a recess of the southern wall.
Among the members of the Palombo family, one of unquestionable merit was Marcantonio, born in Atina around 1570 and who died in 1640. A Doctor of Civil and Canon Law, he served as rector of the Confraternity of San Marco from 1602 to 1604 and was appointed mayor of Atina two years later. Between 1601 and 1635, Atina was shaken by two internal conflicts that pitted civil authorities against the clergy and its leader, the provost Bernardino Mancini. Among those persecuted during these "intense civil discordances" was Palombo himself, who survived two assassination attempts and was even excommunicated in 1606. At the heart of the controversy were extreme local rivalries and efforts to preserve the ancient power of the clergy at all costs.
Marcantonio Palombo’s strong ties to the city and his deep religious devotion led him, from a young age, to collect documents and materials on local history.
In 1609, historical sources were compiled into four volumes to support the writing of the Ecclesiae Atinatis Historia in three books, the last of which began in 1637. Among his sources were the studies of Pietro Diacono and the works of his uncle Luigi Galeota, a notary and son of a Spanish officer. The original manuscript is preserved in the Vatican Apostolic Library.
Upon his death, the Prince of Stigliano praised him as "a man never sufficiently lauded for his rare virtues, remembered with affection in our time and for generations to come."
On the right, Via Dolabella is named after the famous lieutenant of Sulla, traditionally believed to have been born in Atina in the 1st century BC. Alongside Sulla himself, he was responsible for the defeat of Marius at Sacriporto. In 81 BC, Gnaeus Cornelius Dolabella was elected consul.
