Showing 1-9 of 9 results
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Galleria d'Arte Moderna
Moved from its abode inside the walls of Teatro Politeama, Palermo's Galleria d'Arte Moderna is located in a wonderfully restored old complex. The building's interior is sleek and very 'modern art', but the art itself is unfortunately not very heartstopping. Divided over three floors, the artwork is dedicated largely to Sicily and Palermo as its subjects, thus ruling out pieces that might be otherwise interesting and brightening to the collection.
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Galleria Regionale Siciliana
The arterial Via Alloro hides Palermo's best museum, the wonderful Galleria Regionale Siciliana, full of treasures and paintings from the Middle Ages to the 18th century. The building itself is a gorgeous Catalan-Gothic palace sensitively transformed into an exhibition space in 1957 by Carlo Scarpa, one of Italy's leading designers.
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Museo Archeologico Regionale
One of the most important museums of its kind in Europe, the wonderful Museo Archeologico Regionale houses an extensive collection of archaeological artefacts. Among its treasures are Phoenician sarcophagi from the 5th century BC, 10,000 Etruscan artefacts, Greek carvings from Selinunte, the Hellenistic Ariete di bronzo di Siracus (Bronze Ram of Syracuse), the largest collection of ancient anchors in the world, and finds from archaeological sites throughout the island.
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Museo Diocesiano
The Museo Diocesiano houses an important and rather extensive collection of artworks from the cathedral and churches destroyed during WWII; these include paintings, and marble, fresco and mosaic fragments. There's a friendly guide who will explain the significance of each piece (they are largely unmarked), though she speaks Italian and French only.
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Museo Etnografico Pitrè
The Palazzina Cinese houses the Museo Etnografico Pitrè, Sicily's best ethnographic museum. It holds over 5000 objects, including traditional costumes, pottery, puppets, votive offerings, torture instruments and a model of the 18th-century Carrozza di Santa Rosalia (a massive cart used to carry the effigy of the saint through the streets during the Festino di Santa Rosalia).
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Museo Internazionale delle Marionette
With over 3000 puppets, marionettes, glove puppets and shadow figures, the Museo Internazionale delle Marionette is almost single-handedly preserving the popular puppet culture that has long been a feature of Sicily's big-city life.
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Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico
More exciting than the Chiesa di San Domenico is its oratory, Oratorio del Rosario di San Domenico, which is dominated by Anthony Van Dyck's fantastic blue-and-red altarpiece, The Virgin of the Rosary with St Dominic and the Patronesses of Palermo . Van Dyck left Palermo in fear of the plague, and painted the work in Genoa in 1628.
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Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita
In the 17th-century Oratorio del Rosario di Santa Zita you can see some of Serpotta's breathtaking stuccos. Indeed, this is where his work is at its best. The real masterpiece is the elaborate Battle of Lepanto on the entrance wall, depicting the Christian victory over the Turks, a scene that is framed by stucco drapes held by hundreds of naughty cherubs who were modelled on Palermo's street urchins.
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Oratorio di San Lorenzo
The Oratorio di San Lorenzo is another of Serpotta's extravagant stucco oratories, built in 1569 by the Compagnia di San Francesco. The work includes a series of panels with details from the lives of St Lawrence and St Francis, the best of which is the Martirio di San Lorenzo (Martyrdom of St Lawrence), on the far wall. A large Natività (Nativity) by Caravaggio once hung on the wall behind the altar, but it was stolen in 1969 and has never been found.
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Showing 1-9 of 9 results
