Palazzo Mirto

The story

On Via Merlo, in the Kalsa, Palazzo Mirto was for more than three centuries the residence of the Filangeri, counts of San Marco and princes of Mirto, one of the oldest families of the Sicilian nobility. The layout dates from the 17th century, but the palace was enlarged and redecorated in the 18th century and again in the 19th.

In 1982 the last heir, Maria Concetta Lanza Filangeri, gave it to the Sicilian Region with everything inside, on condition that it become a museum. That is why the rooms have stayed as they were: furniture, fabrics, porcelain, Murano chandeliers, paintings and even the linen.

On the ground floor you visit the stables with the carriages.

Why it is worth it

It is not a museum, it is a house whose owners seem to have stepped out a moment ago. You pass from the Chinese Room with its painted walls to the smoking room, from the laid dining table to the bedrooms, and each room has its own character. It is the most direct way to understand how the Palermo aristocracy lived, with no captions to explain it.