Started in the early fourteenth century, it was the great mansion of Manfredi Chiaramonte, Count of Modica, immense and powerful fiefdom, to whose patronage must the ceiling of Sala Magna. Since the beginning of the fifteenth century to 1517 was the residence of the Spanish Viceroys, then home to the Royal Customs and, from 1600 to 1782, the Inquisition Tibunale. Restored in the fifties by the architect Carlo Scarpa, it is now home to the Rector of the University of Palermo. The restoration was very disputed: the first project manager, the architect Giuseppe Spatrisano, left the office at odds with other professionals in Palermo, for the decision to eliminate some of the signs of the history of the Palace (the Baron's Stair, the ancient clock, the platform of the condemned, the cages inside and all that in some way it could remember its horrific past linked to the Inquisition). Of square and massive volume, the Palace marks the transition between the Medieval castle and the palace: the exterior is characterized by mullioned windows with inlays in lava stone. In the prisons, they remain prisoners's graffiti, unique testimony of the suffering endured: emerged under the plaster during the restoration work, written in the dialect are accompanied by a painting depicting the bow of a ship and an inquisitor with cowbell in hand. Among the graffiti, also resist some of the very few examples of Jewish presence on the island. During the restoration of the facade came to light grooves made by heavy cages hanging where they were exhibited the severed heads of the barons who rebelled against Charles V. The Sala Magna (also known as the Barons), it is characterized by a wooden ceiling (1377-1380) painted by Cecco di Naro, Simone da Corleone and Pellegrino Darena from Palermo. Moralistic-didactic representation of island society of the fourteenth century: tournaments, the exaltation of the woman and the revisiting of the past in epic and romance view. Inside the Palace it is also guarded the famous painting by Renato Guttuso, the "Vucciria".

Info:

From Tuesday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm; 2:30/6:30 pm; Sunday from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.