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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Palazzo Belmonte a Palermo

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description

Largely ruined by World War II bombings, the Prince of Belmonte’s palace still stands in old Palermo, the remains nowadays having been recovered and reused as Contemporary Art Museum. The essay reviews the important reforming plan from the late XVIIIth century, focusing on the actors (clients, architects, decorators, workforce...) and on some unknown aspects of the construction site. Which role has been played in it by Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia, the major architect of Neoclassicism in Sicily? How much the Hittorff’s drawings of the palace – published in 1835 – conditioned the understanding of this architectural work? New sources coming from the family archives together with the drawings made in situ by Leon Dufourny and Charles Robert Cockerell - during their journeys in Palermo and here published for the first time - help the authors to return to the former layout of the palace, giving a new carefull graphic rendering of it.