The Villa Giulia, also known as Villa del Popolo, and as Villa Flor is an urban public park, lying to the east of the Botanical Garden of Palermo, in the region of

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, Italy.

History

The park was commissioned by magistrate D. Antonino La Grua e Talamanca, marquis of Regalmici, in 1777 with inspiration from Giovanni Meli. Designed by Nicolò Palma, the park is named after Giulia Guevara, wife of the then Viceroy of Sicily, Marcantonio Colonna, prince of Stigliano, and to whom the villa in this park was dedicated. Construction began that year and was completed in 1778. It became Palermo's first public park. It was extended and enlarged in 1866.

The garden

The original entrance overlooking the Foro Italico is of a monumental neoclassical design. It has been permanently closed, however, so access to the garden is now obtained through the primary entrance on Lincoln Street. That gate area is less developed. The heart of the villa is the

dodecahedron In geometry, a dodecahedron (Greek , from ''dōdeka'' "twelve" + ''hédra'' "base", "seat" or "face") or duodecahedron is any polyhedron with twelve flat faces. The most familiar dodecahedron is the regular dodecahedron with regular pentagon ...

fountain, featuring a sculpture of a dodecahedral

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

clock created by the mathematician Lorenzo Federici, each face of the dodecahedron featuring a sundial. This is supported by a statue of

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

Ignazio Marabitti Ignazio Marabitti (6 September 1719La Sicilia nel secolo XVIII e la poesia satiricoburlesca By Giuseppe Leanti, page 163. in Palermo – 1797 in Palermo) was a Sicilian sculptor of the late Baroque period. He trained in Rome in the studio of Fi ...

, set in the centre of a circular fountain. Decorations surrounding the fountain consist of various metal sculptures. Around the central fountain are four

exedra An exedra (plural: exedras or exedrae) is a semicircular architectural recess or platform, sometimes crowned by a semi-dome, and either set into a building's façade or free-standing. The original Greek sense (''ἐξέδρα'', a seat out of d ...

, designed by Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda and intended to be used for musical performances. The entire central square was originally used for musical and theatrical entertainment. The four corners contained round seating areas, though only two of these still exist. The avenues of the garden are lined with various busts depicting notable people in the city's history. Among the marble sculptures, the most significant is the " Fontana del Genio a Villa Giulia" - the

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 P ...

which has become an

emblem An emblem is an abstract or representational pictorial image that represents a concept, like a moral truth, or an allegory, or a person, like a king or saint. Emblems vs. symbols Although the words ''emblem'' and '' symbol'' are often us ...

of the city, built in 1778 by

Restoration

From Spring 2003 until Autumn 2005 areas of the Garden were restored with pan-European funding.

References

{{Coord, 38, 6, 49, N, 13, 22, 32, E, display=title Gardens in Palermo Parks in Palermo Buildings and structures in Palermo