Villa Lampedusa Hotel & Residence

Villa Lampedusa is an example of a splendid suburban residence, adhering to the idea of ​​the court that was tightened around the Chinese Casina, summer residence of King Ferdinand IV of Bourbon. It was founded by Don Isidoro Terrasi at the beginning of the 18th century. In 1756 the architect Giovanni Del Frago intervened in some renovations. The current version is the result of the classic changes made on the decline of the '700 by the Princes Alliata of Villafranca. The villa stands out for its choices of sculptures and architectural solutions, such as the charm of the Louis XVI decorations, the aedicule near the pincer staircase according to schemes of the end of the eighteenth century, the valuable frescoes of the main floor and the remarkable tempera of the lower floor. Roman painter Gaspare Fumagalli, the serpottine stuccoes, the frescoed coffered ceilings.

In 1845 it was bought by Giulio Tomasi IV Prince of Lampedusa, with compensation paid to him by the Bourbon government following the expropriation of the island of Lampedusa, where he set up an astronomical observatory to support his astrological ambitions. Originally, the notable park also housed a pavilion (Caffe Haus) frescoed by Fumagalli in 1784. Very fine solutions chosen for the multicolored decorations of the prospect obtained with valuable squares and green festoons that gave a lively movement to the façade, unique among the villas of the hills. The decoration of the interiors is the triumph of the perspective illusion: tromp l'oeil in gray monochromatic, frescoes of vaults, walls and overlays in a gentle rococo style, enriched with stuccos, often bending to neoclassical influences. In the last century it came to the Dragotto and Pitruzzella families, who took care of the return to the primitive patterns of some environments, such as the Foresteria and the Scuderie, and in the spirit of integral recovery and the valorisation of a symbolic place. It is really the villa of Gattopardo, that of Prince Giulio Fabrizio Maria Tomasi of Lampedusa, and IX Duke of Palma (inspirer of the famous novel) that in this aristocratic country house, in the shadow of Mount Pellegrino, spent long periods, even in winter. The villa, in the novel, is described as Villa Salina, immersed in the bridal perfume of orange blossoms, and surrounded by a harmonious landscape that is well suited to a delicate sensitivity, to the thought of a solitary.