Villa Palagonia
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The Villa Palagonia in Bagheria , 15 km away from Palermo , is an unusual baroque palace. The building, erected in 1715 by the architect Tommaso Napoli with the help of Agatino Daidone, is best known for its statues. These, monsters with human faces, gave it the name Villa dei Mostri . During his trip to Italy, Goethe wrote an impressive description of this summer residence on April 9, 1787.
The grotesque statue decoration, attached in 1749 by the then owner Francesco Ferdinando II Gravina , Prince of Palagonia, has already fascinated travelers to Italy such as Henry Swinburne , Patrick Brydone , John Soane , or Johann Wolfgang von Goethe , whose description in his "Italian Journey" was rather negative is ("Spitzruten des Wahnsinns", Hamburg edition, vol. 11, p. 245). The fantastic architecture of the Villa Palagonia was particularly appreciated by the surrealists around André Breton . Michelangelo Antonioni shot part of the film The Play with Love here in 1960 . The villa has been owned by the Castronovo family since 1885; The garden and ballrooms can be visited.
literature
- Karl Lohmeyer: Palagonian Baroque. The house of the whim of the "Prince of Palagonia". Berlin, Maximilian Society, 1942. Edition: 350 copies.
- Claude Arthaud: Les Palais du rêve . Arthaud, 1970.
- Dominique Fernandez: Le Radeau de la Gorgone (Promenades en Sicile). Photographed by Ferrante Ferranti, Grasset, 1988.
- P. Hachet: Psychanalysis d'un choc esthétique: La villa Palagonia et ses visiteurs . L'Harmattan, 2002.
- Giovanni Macchia : Le Prince de Palagonia . Quai Voltaire, 1987.
- Dacia Maraini: Return to Bagheria . Seuil, 2004.
- Erik Henry Neil: Architecture in context. The Villas of Bagheria, Sicily . Dissertation Harvard University, 1995.
- R. Scaduto: Villa Palagonia: storia e restauro . Bagheria, EM Falcone, 2007.
- Ferdinando Scianna: La Villa dei mostri . Einaudi, 1977.
Web links
Coordinates: 38 ° 4 ′ 46.8 " N , 13 ° 30 ′ 41.2" E