Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
which contains a private collection of over 2300 tiles, most from Sicily and Naples,
amassed over three decades by founder Pio Mellina. The tiles fill the walls and floors of
the lovingly restored 16th-century Palazzo Torre-Piraino, itself a work of art with vaulted
and frescoed ceilings.
Operated as a nonprofit association, the museum plans to add four to five new rooms by
2015 and expand its collection to include over 4500 tiles.
Palazzo Mirto
PALACE
( 091 616 75 41;
www.regione.sicilia.it/beniculturali/palazzomirto
;
Via Merlo 2; adult €4, EU citizen 18-25yr €2,
under 18yr or 65+ free; 9am-6pm Tue-Sat, 9am-1pm Sun)
Just off Piazza Marina, this
palazzo
is one
of the few in Palermo open to the public. The walls of its 21 rooms are covered in acres of
silk and velvet wallpaper, with vast embroidered wall hangings, frescoed ceilings, gaudy
chandeliers and floors paved in coloured marbles, maiolica tiles and mosaics. English-lan-
guage cards in each room provide information for visitors.
Memorable rooms include the tiny but extravagant Salottino Cinese (Chinese Salon)
full of black lacquer, silken wallpaper and a rather conceited ceiling painting of European
aristos viewing the room from above. It also features a leather-walled Fumoir (Smoking
Salon), with walls of colourfully dyed Cordovan leather, and the Salottino di Diana
(Lounge of Diana), with a swivelling statue of Apollo that leads to a secret passageway.
Parco Culturale del
Gattopardo Giuseppe Tomasi
di Lampedusa
( 091 625 40 11, 327 6844052;
www.parcotomasi.it
; c/o Kursaal Kalhesa, Foro Italico Umberto I; by arrange-
ment)
This organisation runs two-hour literary walks in English, French, German or Italian
focusing on the life and masterwork of Sicily's most famous novelist, Giuseppe Tomasi di
Lampedusa. As you stroll through the Kalsa district, you'll learn the history of Palermo's
ties with Lampedusa's great novel
Il Gattopardo
(The Leopard).
WALKING TOUR
Orto Botanico
GARDEN
( 091 2389 1236;
www.ortobotanico.unipa.it
; Via Abramo Lincoln 2; adult €5, child 10-16yr €3, under 10 or 65+
€2; 9am-8pm May-Aug, to 7pm Apr & Sep, to 6pm Mar & Oct, to 5pm Nov-Feb)
Laid out by Léon
Dufourny and Venanzio Marvuglia, this subtropical paradise shelters massive fig trees, tall
