Florio Villa in Palermo
The Villino Florio in Palermo , built at the end of 1899 at the behest of the Floro family, one of the most powerful Italian entrepreneurial dynasties of the 19th century, was born as a bachelor home and as a place I find for the friends of the young scion of prestigious Vincenzo Florio family.
The Villino was designed by Ernesto Basile and is a triumph of liberty lines : the floral becomes the expression of a current artistic language capable of satisfying his compositional tendencies and the expectations of its refined clients. The exterior of the elegant building is a flourishing of intriguing turrets, battlements, dormers, columns, loggias, capitals, polychrome windows and ashlar walls. There are openings with wavy lines that animate the façades of the building, enchanting wrought iron inserts ranging from the pinnacles to the gazebo on the rear terrace, magnificent railings to lightning rods.
The circular tower with a roof is splendid. umbrella grafted onto the north-east corner that allows access to the terrace.
All the interior furnishings, from the furniture to the doors, from the furnishings to the wall fabrics, from the wooden ceilings to the decorations, were consistent with the exterior. The large fireplace on the wall of the hall on the ground floor is of considerable value.
The villa will experience a legendary season by hosting lavish receptions and sumptuous parties until 1911, the year of the death of Annina Alliata of Montereale, the very young wife of Vincenzo Florio. The house was no longer used and the surrounding park, Parco dell'Olivuzza , was subsequently parceled out and built.
A fire, of an intentional nature, unfortunately damaged the walls of the villa and destroyed almost completely the interior of the building with most of its furnishings. The Villino has undergone a long and careful restoration completed in 2009.
