Palazzo Chiaramonte-Steri is a

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

-style palace located on via Piazza Marina, facing the Giardino Garibaldi in the ancient quarter of Kalsa of

Palermo Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan ...

, region of

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

History

The building, intended to be the family palace or castle, was begun as by 1320 under the patronage of the powerful Sicilian lord Manfredi III Chiaramonte. He commissioned the decoration of the ''Sala Magna'' ("Grand Hall"), with a painted wooden ceiling by Cecco di Naro, Simone da Corleone and Pellegrino Darena. From the late 15th century to 1517 it housed the Aragonese-Spanish

viceroys of Sicily This is a list of viceroys of Sicily: Aragonese direct rule 1409–1516 * John of Aragon, Duke of Peñafiel, later king John II of Aragon, 1458–1479, acted 1409–1416. * Domingo Ram y Lanaja, Bishop of Lleida 1416–1419 * Antonio de Cardona ...

; later it was home to the Royal Customs and, from 1600 to 1782, the tribunal of the Holy Inquisition. The ground floor is mainly a rusticated stone wall, while the second story, piano nobile, is graced with

mullioned windows A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

. The tower's roofline is merlionated. The palace was restored in the 20th century, with numerous elements associated with its role as a jail of the Inquisition. During the works, the grooves left by iron cages in which had been hung the severed heads of the nobles who had rebelled against emperor Charles V were discovered in the façade. The palace is now both a museum and houses the offices of the rector of the University of Palermo. Among the artworks housed in the museum is Renato Guttuso's ''Vucciria''. At the rear is the small Gothic church of Sant Antonio Abate.

Sources

* {{Authority control Chiaramonte family Houses completed in the 14th century

Chiaramonte The Chiaramonte are a noble family of Sicily. They became the most powerful and wealthy family in Sicily. In the 13th century the marriage of Manfredi Chiaramonte to Isabella Mosca, united the two Sicilian counties of Modica and Ragusa. Aroun ...

Museums in Palermo Gothic architecture in Palermo