PALAZZINA CINESE
Ferdinand IV used to love hunting in the Favorita, his royal park. It was here where Villa delle Campanelle, owned by Benedetto Lombardo e Lucchesi, was located.
The name of this small Chinese-style house derived from the metal bells (campanelle) that decorated it and tinkled every time there was a breeze. The King, in voluntary exile in Palermo, was very taken by this unusual house and bought it wanting to transform it into the most luxurious of his country residences. The project was entrusted to Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia who also designed the big garden. If the exterior resembles a coloured pagoda, with its columned portico and spiral staircases, within there is a real celebration of Chinese, Pompeian and Turkish influences. On the lower floor there is a large Louis XVI style ballroom, the kitchens as well as a small exit. This takes you along a marble staircase to the king’s bathroom where there is a huge marble bathtub set in the floor.
On the upper floor there is the gallery set aside for royal audiences and receiving guests. It is decorated with pictures, lovely upholstery, rugs, tapestries, porcelain and furnishings. The king’s four poster bed had a canopy supported by eight white marble columns. The upper floor was for Queen Carolina, above which there was a large terrace.
SANTUARIO DI SANTA ROSALIA
The sanctuary of Santa Rosalia is a sanctuary of Palermo built around the seventeenth century on the basis of previous religious buildings in honor of the new patron saint of the city. The sanctuary is located inside a rocky ravine, almost on the top of Mount Pellegrino, inside there is a large amount of water that is channeled out through a curious and elaborate collection system. The sanctuary preserves the memory of the prodigious discovery of the bones of Saint Rosalia.
