From Revival to Liberty: Palermo and the Belle Epoque

An essential destination during the great era of the Grand Tour, at the turn of the nineteenth century Palermo was still a favoured attraction for the European aristocracy, thanks to its natural beauty, splendid monuments and mild climate.

As the last glorious era in which the city transcended the boundaries of its natural geographical isolation to compete in prestige and splendour with the greatest European capitals, the Belle Époque was one of the happiest moments of local artistic and cultural history.

During those years, the urban and suburban villas of Palermo welcomed a succession of distinguished guests and internationally renowned artists and poets. With its genius and sophistication, the climate of the Belle Époque enveloped Palermo, enlivening and transforming the city: the new Liberty Style forms changed its appearance; music and gallantry distinguished the carriage rides along the Foro Italico; people enjoyed the sea and the sun in the marine areas of Mondello and Acquasanta; exclusive sporting and cultural circles and clubs were established, and succession of sumptuous receptions were held in honour of artists and royal guests from all over Europe.

In fin de siècle Palermo there was an atmosphere of great cultural ferment, not unlike what was happening elsewhere in Europe. Artistic vitality was inspired by the restoration of a yearned-for fabled past and characterised, firstly by the eclectic experimentations begun in the name of Revivalism, then by the full blossoming of international modernism and the expressive richness of “Art Nouveau”, which in Italy went under the name of “Stile Liberty”. The main elements were elegant, sinuous curved lines, sometimes expressed in naturalistic and stylised motifs. It was a movement that went beyond the barriers of the old divisions between major and minor arts to influence everything from great architecture and painting to the smallest furnishing accessories.

The numerous universal and industrial exhibitions – not least the national exhibition held in Palermo in 1891-1892 – witnessed to this vivid climate, which, particularly in the establishment of museums and private collections, represented a unique opportunity of promotion and rediscovery for the arts. It was no coincidence that in an effort to update Italian tradition in relation to the European context, the refined production of local craft traditions was viewed with renewed interest, as an expression strongly identified with an exemplary past that was elevated to the role of a model.

The Ribaudo Kiosk has a structure that alternates fine Billiemi marble with wrought iron, an expression of the excellent production of the Oretea Foundry, worked following calligraphic lines that design profiles, frames and plumes, all enhanced by the contrasting colours of the ochre divisions. The small, octagonal dome, a specific trait of Basile’s constructions, is set on a cruciform plan.

The Vicari Kiosk, a genuine tribute to Islamic and Moorish art, with various details borrowed from Victorian colonial architecture, has a cruciform plan that rests on a Billiemi Marble base. The surface features elaborate wood inlay alternating with wrought iron elements that outline the structural profile and the pinnacle.

Between myth and reality, it is difficult to define the boundaries where legend becomes history and history legend. However, Liberty Palermo would not have been what it was without the presence of the Florio family, whose path influenced the events of this fortunate period at the turn of the century.

Ignazio junior, Franca and Vincenzo are the names of the last representatives of a dynasty, whose ascent began in 1793 and saw them rise from immigrant merchants to become the absolute leading figures of their time. The family promoted or participating in a vast number of activities as the central figures not only of economic life, but also of society in that era. The beauty of Countess Franca Paola Jacona Notarbartolo di San Giuliano, the wife of Ignatius, remains legendary.

Ernesto Basile designed the Grand Hôtel Villa Igiea and Villino Florio for them, considered as watersheds among the examples most closely linked to the eclectic historicism and new trends of the early modernist period.

Villino Florio was designed by Ernesto Basile in 1899 to serve as the bachelor pad for the young scion of the family, Vincenzo. The building was situated within the huge park located in the Olivuzza district, surrounded by a wonderful romantic garden and directly connected to the menagerie, the pond, the orchid house, the Sicilian-Norman kiosk and the neoclassical temple. This “guest pavilion” is now considered one of the most exemplary works of Liberty style architecture as well as the best expression of the genius of the famous architect. From the dynamic external double staircase, the new modernist language is full of suggestions and references borrowed from the most avant-garde international trends, as well as from the highest local formal tradition, from Medieval to Baroque. Thus, Nordic roof trusses, turrets reminiscent of French castles, Romanesque columns, Renaissance ashlar work and wrought iron of Catalan inspiration are interwoven, creating an absolutely authentic language and a masterpiece of originality, dominated by sinuous curved lines and elegant floral carvings.

The new residential district was created along the large new Boulevard della Libertà, a privileged area of ​​new aristocratic and middle class residences, in the area of the former Firriato di Villafranca, an extensive estate belonging Don Giuseppe Alliata e Colonna, Prince of Villafranca, which after the removal of the equipment set up for the great National Exhibition of 1991-92, became the focus of intense building activity defined by new types of housing: the single-family villa and the patronal building. These types of housing, status symbols of the new managerial class, were characterised by the functionality of their interiors and their large exterior spaces and gardens.

The body of the building features a clean stereometry enhanced by white façades, set on a masonry and ashlar base. The asymmetries in the arrangement of the low lateral bodies are further accentuated by the position of specific architectural elements, such as the portal, the turret-viewpoint, the series of false divisions and the wrought iron corner balcony on two elevations. The asymmetries in the arrangement of the low lateral bodies are further accentuated by the position of specific architectural elements, such as the portal, the turret-viewpoint, the series of false divisions and the wrought iron corner balcony. On the second level, the rhythm is accentuated by alternating pilasters, false divisions and tapering blind wall sections, at the top of which series of polychrome tiles arranged like a frieze act as a counterpoint.

Ernesto Basile designed the Ribaudo Kiosk in 1916. The structure features a complex combination of curved and straight framing. The vertical elements that rise from the cruciform Billiemi marble base end in scrolls, crossing over the horizontal divisions. The corners are embellished with plant motif decorations. The elegant projecting roof with rounded shapes features an articulate play of structures on the soffit. It is crowned by an elegant turret with a latticework grill, culminating at the top in spheres with sinuous decorations. The Villino, commissioned by Salvatore Favaloro, was built from the design by Giovan Battista Filippo Basile in 1889, thereby inaugurating the great Liberty season in Palermo.

The building is characterised by the linear arrangement of the façade, to which to openings of the central loggia and the windows add lightness. The use of clean, elegant curved lines adds softness and refines the architecture, which is not surprisingly considered the city’s first true modernist building. In 1914, the house was purchased by Giuseppe di Stefano, who commissioned Ernesto Basile to renovate and enhance it. The architect modified his father’s work, adding an octagonal crenelated tower at the side of the main building that lightens the structure by adding movement, and entrusted the decoration to the painter Salvatore Gregorietti.

The Mondello area, now a beautiful holiday resort area, was reclaimed after several attempts thanks to the efforts of Prince Francesco Lanza di Scalea, who was the first to develop the ambitious project to reclaim the maritime district, at that time plagued by malaria, through a water drainage system that gave rise to the project for use of the land. The recovery of a wide area of marshland led the city administration of Palermo to sign an agreement in 1910 in which it granted the Belgian company “Les Tramvays de Palerme” a “special concession” to manage the area. For its part, the company undertook to build three hundred cottages, beach facilities, a kursaal, a church, a large hotel, a power plant and a public park, as well as the creation of a tramway for transport connections. Starting from 1912, the appearance of the small fishing village began to change, and from an abandoned marsh the area became the lido of the Belle Époque, where a series of cottages began to appear for the “delights of the resort”.

Already in 1894, Ernesto Basile had drawn up a project for a small “workshop house” for the painter Rocco Lentini in Mondello, this choice resort area. The cottage was only completed in 1910 and the painter himself provided the exterior decorations, with plant-like shoots that climb up the walls and make it one of the most characteristic examples of Liberty architecture in the area.