The Royal Palace of Ficuzza, also named Reggia or Real Casina di Caccia (hunting lodge) of

Ficuzza Ficuzza is a southern Italian village and hamlet (''frazione'') of Corleone, a municipality in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, Sicily. in 2011 it had a population of 112. History Originally a fief belonging to the clergy, the foundation of the ...

is located near the town of

Corleone Corleone (; scn, Cunigghiuni or ) is an Italian town and ''comune'' of roughly 11,158 inhabitants in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, in Sicily. Several Mafia bosses have come from Corleone, including Tommy Gagliano, Gaetano Reina, Jack Dragn ...

, located some 45 kilometers from

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 ...

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

. It was commissioned by Ferdinand IV of Naples and III of Sicily during his exile in Sicily starting after the establishment of the

Parthenopean Republic The Parthenopean Republic ( it, Repubblica Partenopea, french: République Parthénopéenne) or Neapolitan Republic (''Repubblica Napoletana'') was a short-lived, semi-autonomous republic located within the Kingdom of Naples and supported by the ...

in 1798.

History

Ferdinand returned to the mainland but was then exiled again by French forces, and his

kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

was ruled by

Joachim Murat Joachim Murat ( , also , ; it, Gioacchino Murati; 25 March 1767 – 13 October 1815) was a French military commander and statesman who served during the French Revolutionary Wars and Napoleonic Wars. Under the French Empire he received the ...

till 1815. He had the palace built near the Royal Hunting reserve in 1802, and it was completed in 1810. The designers included the engineer Carlo Chenchi and later the

Neoclassical architect Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing style ...

Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia. Among those completing the fresco decoration were

Giuseppe Velasco Giuseppe Velasquez, Velasques or Velasco (16 December 1750 – 7 February 1827) was an Italian painter, active in a Neoclassic style. Biography He was born at Palermo into Spanish family; his father was Fabiano Ungo de Velasco. At the age of ...

and B. Cotardi. Ultimately, with the fall of the Bourbons, the house fell into disuse and was subject to depredation by various owners and hosts, including occupying armies during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. The palace has recently been opened to visitors, including the tunnels that lead into the surrounding forest.YouTube slide tour
of the palace and its chapel. The austere exteriors of the palace harmonize with one of its roles as a hunting lodge. Some of the interiors, however, have decorative flourishes, such as Egyptian-style columns. The entire ensemble has a spirit of wasteful frivolity, given that it was commissioned by a king in exile ruling a crumbling monarchy and an impoverished kingdom during the age of the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ficuzza Houses completed in 1810 Palaces in Sicily Corleone Royal residences in the Kingdom of Sicily Neoclassical palaces Neoclassical architecture in Italy