Palazzo Alliata di Villafranca

The story

The palace takes up an entire side of piazza Bologni and was built in the 17th century for the Alliata family, princes of Villafranca and one of the most powerful houses of the Sicilian aristocracy. Damaged by the earthquake of 1726, it was rebuilt and enlarged during the 18th century, with the sober façade you see today.

Inside, a sequence of state rooms unfolds with frescoed ceilings, period furniture, tapestries and a picture collection that includes a Crucifixion attributed to Anthony van Dyck, the Flemish painter who stayed in Palermo in 1624.

The palace is still privately owned and is visited on guided tours of the piano nobile. In front of it, in the centre of the square, stands the bronze statue of Charles V, cast in 1631.

Why it is worth it

Climbing the staircase and walking into the rooms feels like stepping into a novel: creaking parquet, mirrors, heavy curtains and family portraits watching you. It is not a sterile museum but a house that has stayed a house. Look at the frescoed ceilings of the ballroom, the majolica floors and the Van Dyck Crucifixion, then lean out over the square from the windows of the piano nobile.