Walking under the arch of Santa Clara, which joined the convent and the Palace so that the marquises could have access to their private chapel to listen to mass, we arrive to the open area of he Palace. A wide area where celebrations were held in the last century.

When the castle, (the usual residence of the House of Aguilar) disappeared, they decided to build a palace in accordance with the times, which is why the defensive character, typical of the frontier area that Montilla held in previous times, was given up.

Over a short period this Renaissance building was constructed. It has plain lines and is scarce in its decorative elements which are reduced to window and door frames and to the shields that flank the door.

The interior of the Palace, (first the one in Priego then the one in Medinaceli) has been altered to adapt it to house its current owners, heirs of those who were administrators to the duke in these lands. Nonetheless, it maintains some original halls and rooms.

Facing the demolition of their residence, the Marquises of Priego regarded it as necessary to build a new palace, leaving the sober military conception of the old Montilla fortress, despite the fact that Queen Juana would approve its reconstruction in 1510.
The chosen place, a small flat area in one of the humid and fresh corners of the villa, offered more than acceptable conditions for the location of the Palace, which was built according to the courtesan and Renaissance appearance of the sixteenth century.

The stately palace, according to the historian Jóse Morte Molina, was built immediately after the demolition of the castle, and part of its spirit went, without a doubt, to the new building in the golden stones with which its façade was cut.

Inside, the old building is fully renovated. Only its front maintains evident features of the Renaissance palace architecture, despite its plain and austere lines and the evident scarcity of ornamental elements.

Next to the Palace there is the picturesque Compás de Santa Clara, which connects the stately building to the Clarise convent founded in 1525.

It is a tradition that from a little balcony placed over the Compass itself, the Countess of Feria, Ana Ponce de León, threw her own wedding ring to a beggar moved by the beggar's plea for help. The Montillan feature writer, Enrique Garramiola, quotes with detail the event taken down by a biographer of the Santo Maestro Juan de Avila.

The surroundings of the Palace and the Compass, called Llano de Palacio, was an important area of the city in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, in which the most popular celebrations and festivities took place. Later, in the centre of the Llano a public fountain was installed and it stayed there until the middle of the last century.

Nowadays, the old Palace is gravely threatened by the excesses of humidity which have caused serious damage to its foundations, despite the Council undertaking the subterranean canalisation of the waters which come from Pozo Dulce and the northeast sides of the castle.

The private character of the building also constitutes a problem when public authorities have to take maintenance decisions.