The Palazzo story: ESSE MALO QUAM VIDERI

Among the city’s wonders: al-Qasr castle, the Norman Palace, the Chinese building and the Byzantine mosaics, you can find La Bella Palermo in Palazzo Pantelleria. Built in the late 1300 as a fortified outpost overlooking the sea and near the harbour, the embattled structure -you can still see the traces nowdays- was purchased by the Requesens family (arrived in Sicily in the wake of the emperor Charles V) in the sixteenth century, who transformed it into a noble palace. The palace moved through several metamorphosis till the end of 1700, when the architect Del Frago redesigned the façade of Valverde square (now Largo Cavalieri di Malta) and in the next centuries it lost most of its glamour facing the darkest decades until the end of the century. At the beginning of the new millennium, the main floor was acquired by the current owner who created his “buen retiro” as well as the perfect place to receive his several collections. It was recently opened to an audience of international travelers eager to dive in an environment rich in works of art and the expertly woven signs of aging to give the harmony of the senses.