The Palazzo Biscari is a monumental private palace located on Via Museo Biscari in

Catania Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also b ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, southern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The highly decorative interiors are open for guided tours, and used for social and cultural events.

History and Description

After the devastations of the

1693 Sicily earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts of southern Italy near Sicily, Calabria, and Malta on January 11 at around 21:00 local time. This earthquake was preceded by a damaging foreshock on January 9. The main quake had an estimated magnitude of 7 ...

, the

Prince of Biscari Prince of Biscari ( it, Principe di Biscari) is a title in the Kingdom of Sicily, held by the head of one branch of the House of Paternò, a major Sicilian nobility, Sicilian noble family, originally a cadet branch of the House of Barcelona-Arago ...

, Ignazio Paternò Castello, 3rd Prince of Biscari, obtained the permission to build this palace. At the time the building stood against the French king Charles V's walls of the town. After Ignazio's death in 1699, his son Vincenzo (1685-1749) and later his nephew

Ignazio Paternò Castello Ignazio Paternò Castello, Prince of Biscari (1722 - 1 September 1786) was an Italian polymath, antiquarian, and patron of the arts, who lived most of his life in his native Catania in Sicily. Biography Born to a wealthy noble family, he studied ...

(1714-1786), the fifth Prince of Biscari extended and completed the decoration. This latter prince complimented the work with a museum space to display his large collection of mainly archeologic and numismatic collections, now on display in the Museo Civico Castello Ursino.Palazzo Biscari, official site
The oldest section was built under Ignazio, the third prince of Biscari, who commissioned the design from the architect Alonzo Di Benedetto. Ignazio's son, Vincenzo, commissioned the elaborate decoration of the seven large second-storey windows facing the seaside, on the southwest corner of the palace on Via Cardinale Dusmet, by the Messinese sculptor Antonino Amato. The final additions eastward were designed by

Giuseppe Palazzotto Giuseppe Palazzotto (1702 – 1764) was an Italian architect, active in Catania, Sicily in a Baroque style. He was employed extensively during the flurry of reconstruction after the 1693 Sicily earthquake The 1693 Sicily earthquake struck parts o ...

and, later, by Francesco Battaglia. The building was finished in 1763 and inaugurated with big celebrations. The outer facade on Via Museo Biscari appears somewhat dilapidated; the entrance is through a grand stone portal, decorated with facial cartouches and brackets as well as the coat of arms of the Biscari. It leads to a large inner courtyard, which features a large double outdoor entrance staircase. The

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

interiors are elaborately frescoed and decorated with stucco. The large octagonal ballroom has a complex decoration of mirrors, stuccoes and frescos painted by Matteo Desiderato and Sebastiano Lo Monaco. A small dome has a balcony designed to contain an orchestra. The dome fresco is meant to depict the glory of the Paternò Castello di Biscari family. It is accessed through a staircase decorated in stucco within the gallery facing the sea. Among the other rooms are the "Fief Room", featuring large canvasses of the Biscari feudataries; the "Princess Apartments", built by Ignazio V of Biscari for his wife, with pavements of ancient Roman marbles; the "Birds Gallery" and the "Don Quixote Room". There is also a museum, once housing the collection of Ignazio V, most of the material of which is now in the

Castello Ursino Castello Ursino ( scn, Casteddu Ursinu, lit=Bear Castle), also known as Castello Svevo di Catania, is a castle in Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. It was built in the 13th century as a royal castle of the Kingdom of Sicily, and is mostly known fo ...

in Catania.

References

Sources

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1763 Palaces in Catania Museums in Sicily Historic house museums in Italy 1763 establishments in Italy