Page 56 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Sicily

54  P ALERMO AREA B Y AREA

3 La Gancia
Via Alloro 27. Map 2 E3.
Tel 338-451 20 11 or 338-722 87 75.
Open 9:30am–1:30pm Mon–Sat.
Closed Sun & hols.
This church was built in 1485
and dedicated to Santa Maria
degli Angeli. The façade is
decorated with two Spanish-
Gothic portals. The aisleless
nave in the interior has 16 side
chapels, a multicoloured
marble floor and a wooden
patterned ceiling. In the
Baroque period, stucco
The Giardino Garibaldi, in the middle of Piazza Marina decoration was added by the
sculptor Giacomo Serpotta.
1 Piazza Marina kings and then of the viceroys. The choir, in a separate room
In the 17th century it housed near the church’s entrance, has
Map 2 E3
the Inquisition court room, or a late-16th-century organ. The
One of the largest in Palermo, Holy Office, where suspected panels dating from 1697 show
Piazza Marina lies on what was heretics were interrogated and Franciscan saints painted by
once the southern side of the often tortured. Later, the palazzo Antonio Grano.
natural harbour. In the middle became the city court of law and
of Piazza Marina is the Giardino today it is the administrative
Garibaldi, designed in 1863 by headquarters of the University
GB Basile and planted with Rectorate. The courtyard is open
Ficus magnolioides, the largest to the public and tours of the
species of fig tree in Europe. palazzo are available.
The garden is surrounded by a Across the square is the
cast-iron fence decorated with Renaissance Santa Maria dei
bows and arrows, rabbits and Miracoli (1547). On the corner
birds. Inside are a fountain and of Via Vittorio Emanuele is the
busts of Risorgimento figures, Baroque Fontana del Garraffo,
including Benedetto De Lisi’s a fountain with three shell-
monument to the Italian shaped basins supported
leader Garibaldi. by dolphins’ heads. At the
The most important building northeastern corner is the
in Piazza Marina is Palazzo church of San Giovanni dei
Chiaramonte Steri, built in 1307 Napoletani (1526–1617), with
by Manfredi III Chiara monte, a a trapezoidal portico. Palermitan marionette from the theatre
member of one of Sicily’s most of Francesco Sclafani
powerful families. In the Middle 2 Palazzo Abatellis
Ages the Chiara monte family 4 Museo
controlled most of the island. See pp56–7. Internazionale
The name “Steri” comes from
Hosterium, or fortified building, delle Marionette
as most patrician mansions were Piazzetta A. Pasqualino 5. Map 2 E3.
just that during the turbulent Tel 091-328 060. Open Jun–Aug:
period of Hohenstaufen rule. 9am–1pm, 2:30–6:30pm Mon–Sat;
Built in the Gothic style with Sep–May: 9am–1pm, 2:30–6:30pm
Arab and Norman influences, Mon–Sat. Closed Sun & hols.
the palazzo has an austere Daily show in summer; see website
façade. The portal is decorated for updates. &
with a double arched lintel of ∑ museomarionettepalermo.it
ashlars and a series of double
and triple Gothic lancet windows This museum boasts one of the
with multicoloured inlay. world’s main collections of
When the new Aragonese puppets, marionettes and
rulers arrived in 1392, Andrea shadow puppets. In the first
Chiaramonte was beheaded right room are the great schools of
in front of Palazzo Steri. It became The Gothic portal of La Gancia, with marionettes, from the Catania
the palace of the Aragonese bas-relief on the arch style to those of Liège, Naples
For hotels and restaurants in this area see p202 and pp210–11

054-055_EW_Sicily.indd 54 11/3/16 2:09 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm