Beneventano palace of Lentini
Davide Mauro - CC4.0
Palazzo Beneventano, located in the Badia di Lentini district, is one of the most important noble residences in Sicily.
The building was built in the 19th century at the behest of a descendant of the Orsileo, one of the branches of the Orsini family who moved in Benevento following conflicts with Pope Boniface VIII, who arrived in Lentini with part of his family and changed his surname to Beneventano.
The project, designed by the architect Carlo Sada, develops over an area already occupied from the 13th century on from a large complex, of which the original structure is partly preserved. It is a large structure, made up of more than 50 rooms spread over an area of about 1700 m2, plus a large internal courtyard and a series of external spaces. The building develops along via San Francesco d'Assisi and, from its north entrance, it is possible to directly access the large courtyard onto which the service rooms on the ground floor open and from which it is possible to access the staircase leading to the noble. This is mainly organized according to a model that provides for a corridor along which all the most important rooms of the residence are arranged in a row, such as the living room, the dining room and all those spaces useful for receiving guests, inside of which there is no shortage of frescoed vaults and mosaic floors.
The Palace is now the seat of the Museum of Contemporary Art of Lentini.
