Description
The Palazzo Pretorio, known to everyone as Palazzo delle Aquile, is Palermo's city hall, on Piazza Pretoria, a short walk from the Quattro Canti and the edge of the Kalsa. It is the ceremonial seat of the municipality and looks onto the square's famous fountain.
It was rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century at the behest of the praetor Pietro Speciale, and it has never stopped changing its face since. In 1875 Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda reinterpreted it in Neo-Renaissance style, with the ochre rustication you can still see.
The name comes from the eagles, the city's symbol: you'll find them in all sorts of forms on the facades, among inscriptions, medallions and coats of arms. High up watches the statue of Saint Rosalia, the patron saint, sculpted in 1661 by Carlo D'Aprile.
The best-loved piece stands on the grand staircase: the Genius of Palermo, a small marble group 2.60 meters high, by Domenico Gagini and Gabriele di Battista. It bears a Latin motto: "Palermo, golden shell, devours her own and feeds strangers."
Then there are the rooms of the piano nobile: the Red Room, the mayor's study, with two Murano chandeliers and an ancient statue of the "Naked Brawlers"; the Yellow Room, where the city council's executive committee meets.
The Sala delle Lapidi takes its name from the fifty marble plaques on the walls, placed in 1875. This is where the city council meets, under a painted wooden ceiling from the fourteenth century, retouched by a Florentine painter.
The atrium and portico house finds from different eras, including a Roman marble group of a married couple clasping hands. In front of the palace, a flight of steps with two marble sphinxes links the square with Via Maqueda.
The statue of the Genius was found in 1596 in the palace's cellars, where it had been forgotten. After the taking of Palermo in 1860 the palace housed Garibaldi's dictatorial government, and a plaque recalls it.
It was rebuilt at the end of the fifteenth century at the behest of the praetor Pietro Speciale, and it has never stopped changing its face since. In 1875 Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda reinterpreted it in Neo-Renaissance style, with the ochre rustication you can still see.
The name comes from the eagles, the city's symbol: you'll find them in all sorts of forms on the facades, among inscriptions, medallions and coats of arms. High up watches the statue of Saint Rosalia, the patron saint, sculpted in 1661 by Carlo D'Aprile.
The best-loved piece stands on the grand staircase: the Genius of Palermo, a small marble group 2.60 meters high, by Domenico Gagini and Gabriele di Battista. It bears a Latin motto: "Palermo, golden shell, devours her own and feeds strangers."
Then there are the rooms of the piano nobile: the Red Room, the mayor's study, with two Murano chandeliers and an ancient statue of the "Naked Brawlers"; the Yellow Room, where the city council's executive committee meets.
The Sala delle Lapidi takes its name from the fifty marble plaques on the walls, placed in 1875. This is where the city council meets, under a painted wooden ceiling from the fourteenth century, retouched by a Florentine painter.
The atrium and portico house finds from different eras, including a Roman marble group of a married couple clasping hands. In front of the palace, a flight of steps with two marble sphinxes links the square with Via Maqueda.
The statue of the Genius was found in 1596 in the palace's cellars, where it had been forgotten. After the taking of Palermo in 1860 the palace housed Garibaldi's dictatorial government, and a plaque recalls it.