Villa Palagonia, Sicily’s Baroque garden of monsters

Strange figures guard the gates at Villa Palagonia, just outside Palermo, Sicily.

The decoration at Villa Palagonia is fantastical, unlike the era’s usual religious and mythological themes.

Monsters, mirrors and 18^th century excess all meet at Villa Palagonia, one of Sicily’s strangest attractions.  Villa Palagonia is one of the earliest examples of Sicilian Baroque architecture, begun in 1705 by architect Tommaso Napoli as a summer residence for Don Francesco Ferdinando Gravina, fifth prince of Palagonia.

The villa is built of golden tufa typical of Sicily, with pink marble accents.

Located in the seaside town of Bagheria, just east of Palermo, and constructed of the golden stone called tufa with accents of pink marble, the villa glows with the colors of sunset and was devoted to summer pleasures.  It was the prince’s grandson, Francesco Ferdinando Gravina II—twisted in both body and mind–who later commissioned the bizarre garden statuary that earned the Villa notoriety as the Villa dei Mostri (Villa of Monsters).

The villa glows with sunset colors of pink and gold.

Scirocco–the nerve-shredding wind that brings sand from the Sahara–was blowing the day we visited, giving an oppressive tint to the sky and adding to the strangeness of the day.  The villa both fascinated and appalled 18^th and 19^th century travelers doing the Grand Tour of Europe.  The German writer Goethe was horrified by the garden’s “bad taste and folly”, noting “Beggars of both sexes, men and women of Spain, Moors, Turks, hunchbacks, deformed persons of every kind, dwarfs, musicians, Pulcinellas…deformed monkeys, many dragons and snakes, every kind of paw attached to every kind of body, double heads and exchanged heads.”

Villa Palagonia is surrounded by a wall topped with grotesque statuary.

Strange hybrids of man, beast, woman and sea creature ‘decorate’ the garden at Villa Palagonia.

It’s hard to believe these Picasso-like grotesques were sculpted in the 18th century.

Though just over 60 of the original 200 sculptures remain, it’s easy to conjure up an 18^th century summer night in which elegant guests drew up to the villa in horse-drawn carriages, stepping down into the jasmine-scented garden, torchlight making the stone monsters and musicians seem to flicker with life.

Only part of the villa is open to the public. Frescoes of mythological scenes greet guests in the front hall.

Inside, the Prince’s guests would find an eccentric interior that included spikes concealed under velvet seating, and funhouse-type mirrors that made his guests appear as deformed as the Prince himself.  Today, only the Hall of Mirrors remains, shimmering with patina and mystery, three-dimensional marble busts of lords and ladies on the walls permanently in attendance at the ball. Villa Palagonia is truly Europe’s most bizarre monument to Baroque decadence.

The hall of mirrors in Villa Palagonia is one of the most beautiful rooms I’ve ever seen. Lit by candles, it would have seemed otherworldly.

Three-dimensional ladies in elaborately sculpted gowns seem to emerge from marble ovals in the wall.

Roses in the hair of this decorative marble element hint at the villa’s role as a palace for summer pleasures.

Located just 15 km from Palermo in the seaside town of Bagheria, Villa Palagonia is located on Piazza Garibaldi at the end of Via Palagonia, about a ten-minute walk from the train station.  About an hour should be allotted to tour the Villa and its gardens.  There are several other villas open to visitors nearby and good shopping and restaurants on Corso Umberto. If you’re asking for directions, be sure to pronounce Villa Palagonia correctly: VEE-la Pa-la-go-NEE-a.  Bagheria is pronounced Ba-gay-REE-a. For more on touring seductive Sicily, see the region’s official tourism website, Visit Sicily – Island of Art.

In the 18th century, local women feared looking upon the statues, and all birth defects were blamed on the Prince’s monstrous garden decor.  The ‘evil’ statues were almost torn down.

Expressive–and horrible.