Abatellis Palace in Palermo
Palazzo Abatellis in Palermo & nbsp; rises in the ancient district of Kalsa along one of the oldest and most representative streets of the city, the medieval street Ruga nova de Alamannorum , now via Alloro.
It was built in 1490 at the behest of 1490, Francesco Abatellis, Mastro Portulano of the Kingdom of Sicily, as part of the urban renewal of the city of Palermo promoted by Ferdinando the Catholic. In the palace-fortress the Gothic-Catalan architecture blends with the aesthetic-formal criteria of the new Renaissance art.
The balanced and rational facade is refined by the refinement of the magnificent portal , the an element that more than any other stylistically characterizes the majestic residence, it even seems to have been entirely imported from Spain and inserted. It consists of a composition of frames and sticks, which, repeated in a perspective flight, are framed by the outermost one firmly tied by the interwoven Franciscan cord. The portal is surmounted by three coats of arms, embedded in stone rhombuses, of which the central one is finely carved, has the noble coat of arms of the Abatellis: "Grifo rampante, eagle and crest". On the sides of the portal there are two marble tombstones celebrating the founder's exploits. The second order has five rectangular three-mullioned windows, embellished with three ogival perforated arches that rest on elegant columns that contrast with the severity of the wall facing made of well-squared exposed stone ashlars.
The building has a large atrium with a which leads to a large and elegant internal courtyard. In the western part there is a superimposed loggia supported by slender columns with lowered arches on the ground floor and round arches on the upper floor. In a lateral position, contiguous to the loggia, there is a solid external staircase in carved stone of clear Catalan origin, the work of the Termitan stone master Antonio de Amato. From it you reach the rooms on the upper floor. The large noble floor originally consisted of numerous rooms of various sizes, both for representation and intended for the owners' residence. The various rooms were placed in communication with each other through elegant and refined stone portals and were illuminated by windows with stone benches obtained from the thickness of the walls. All the rooms on the floor were decorated with wooden ceilings with refined decorations.
