The Praetorian Palace ( it, Palazzo Pretorio), also known as Palace of the Eagles ( it, Palazzo delle Aquile), is a palace 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 ...

. The building has an important role in the political life of the city, since it houses the mayor and the offices of the municipality of Palermo. It is located in the heart of the historic centre, between

Via Maqueda Via Maqueda, also known as "''Strada Nuova''" (''New Street''), is an important street of Palermo. Together with the Cassaro, Palermo, Cassaro, it represents the main axis of the historic centre and provides access to a number of important sights, ...

Piazza Pretoria Piazza Pretoria is at the limits of the district of Kalsa, near the corner of Cassaro with Via Maqueda, just a few meters from the Quattro Canti, the intersection where all the four ancient quarters intersect, in the city of Palermo, region of S ...

and Piazza Bellini, in the same area of other well-known architectural landmarks like the

Fontana Pretoria The Praetorian Fountain (Italian: Fontana Pretoria) is a monumental fountain located in Piazza Pretoria in the historic center of Palermo, region of Sicily, Italy. The fountain dominates the piazza on the west flank of the church of Santa Caterin ...

, the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

church of Santa Caterina and the Medieval churches of

Martorana The Church of St. Mary of the Admiral ( it, Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio), also called Martorana, is the seat of the Parish of San Nicolò dei Greci ( sq, Klisha e Shën Kollit së Arbëreshëvet), overlooking the Piazza Bellini, next to the nor ...

and San Cataldo (both of them are

World Heritage Sites A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the UNESCO, United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNES ...

History

Until the late 19th century the origin of the palace remained cloaked under a shadow of legend. For centuries the general view was that the palace was built in the 14th century from the will of King

Frederick III of Sicily Frederick II (or III) (13 December 1272 – 25 June 1337) was the regent of the Kingdom of Sicily from 1291 until 1295 and subsequently King of Sicily from 1295 until his death. He was the third son of Peter III of Aragon and served in the W ...

. However, in 1875 the scholars Fedele Pollacci Nuccio and Giuseppe Meli made public the documents through which the construction was decided in 1463. The main advocate of the construction was the magistrate Pietro Speciale.Enzo Di Pasquale, ''Il giro della Sicilia in 501 luoghi'', Newton Compton Editori, 2014 The construction was carried out between 1463 and 1478 under the guidance of Giacomo Benfante. Decades later, in 1553, the palace was enlarged and its facade was redone. A new architectural intervention was made by

Mariano Smiriglio Mariano Smiriglio (1561 – 1636) was a Sicilian architect, painter and decorator, active in a Mannerist-Sicilian Baroque style in his native Palermo. He was born in Palermo, and started as a painter at the school of Filippo Paladini, then he w ...

between 1615 and 1617. In 19th century, between 1873 and 1875, the architect Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda was the author of a new renovation. Through this intervention the palace assumed the current

Renaissance Revival Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range o ...

- Neoclassical appearance.

Description

The main facade presents three orders of eight windows and a single sequence of nine balconies in the main floor (the "piano nobile"). Under the central balcony there is a high relief depicting an imposing marble eagle, work of Salvatore Valenti. Over the main facade's cornice, in central position, there is the statue of

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

, work of Carlo D'Aprile (1661). Under the statue, it is located a big clock arrived from

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1864. At the top of the building, the four angles are decorated with four eagles, work of Domenico Costantino. Several artworks are kept inside the palace. The most important is the Genio di Palazzo Pretorio, also known as ''"Palermu u Nicu"'', sculpture attributed to

Domenico Gagini Domenico Gagini ( Bissone, c. 1425–30 - Palermo, 29–30 September 1492) was a Swiss-Italian sculptor who was active in Northern as well as Southern Italy.Hanno-Walter Kruft. "Gagini." Grove Art Online. Oxford Art Online. Oxford University P ...

. In addition, the palace houses some weapons belonged to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

. The most famous rooms of the palace are the ''"Sala Rossa"'' (seat of the mayor), the ''"Sala Gialla"'' (seat of the municipal government), the ''"Sala delle Lapidi"'' (seat of the city council) and the ''"Sala Garibaldi"''.

Gallery

File:Piazza Pretoria and Palazzo Pretorio.jpg, The facade from the Fontana Pretoria File:Palermo - Palazzo Pretorio bassorilievo aquila.jpg, High relief of the eagle File:Palermo - Palazzo Pretorio interno statua del Genio di Palermo.jpg, Genio di Palazzo Pretorio File:Palermu u Nicu.jpg,

Genius of Palermo The Genius of Palermo (in Italian ''Genio di Palermo'', also called ''Genio'' or ''Palermo'') is one of the city symbols and the lay patron of Palermo. He was the ancient numen and genius loci of the Sicilian city. The Genius is the emblem of ...

File:Palermo - Palazzo Pretorio - Giovanni Meli.jpg, Monument to

Giovanni Meli Giovanni Meli (4 March 1740 – 20 December 1815) was an Italian poet. Meli was born in Palermo. , after studying philosophy and medicine he worked as a doctor in Cinisi in the province of Palermo. It was during this early period of his life th ...

File:Palermo - Palazzo Pretorio cortile interno02.jpg, Courtyard

References

External links

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Image gallery
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Pretorio Renaissance architecture in Palermo Pretorio Palermo