The Praetorian Palace (), also known as Palace of the Eagles (), is a palace of

Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , 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 province. The ...

. 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 o ...

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

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

church of Santa Caterina and the Medieval churches of

Martorana The Church of St. Mary of the Admiral (), also called Martorana, is the seat of the ''Parish of San Nicolò dei Greci'' (), overlooking the Piazza Bellini, next to the Norman church of San Cataldo and facing the Baroque church of Santa Cate ...

and San Cataldo (both of them are

World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

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 III (also Frederick II, ', ', '); 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 Ara ...

. 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 wo ...

between 1615 and 1617. In 19th century, between 1873 and 1875, the architect

Giuseppe Damiani Almeyda Giuseppe is the Italian form of the given name Joseph, from Latin Iōsēphus from Ancient Greek Ἰωσήφ (Iōsḗph), from Hebrew יוסף. The feminine form of the name is Giuseppa or Giuseppina. People with the given name include: :''Note: ...

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 of ...

- 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 Salvatore may refer to: * Salvatore (name), a given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * "Salvatore", a song by Lana Del Rey, on her 2015 album ''Honeymoon'' * Salvatore (band), a Norwegian instrume ...

. Over the main facade's cornice, in central position, there is the statue of

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (; ; 1130–1166), nicknamed ("the Little Saint"), is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo in Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, , and El Playón. She is especially important internationally as a saint in ...

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

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 1864. At the top of the building, the four angles are decorated with four eagles, work of

Domenico Costantino Domenico is an Italian given name for males and may refer to: People * Domenico Alfani, Italian painter * Domenico Allegri, Italian composer * Domenico Alvaro, Italian mobster * Domenico Ambrogi, Italian painter * Domenico Auria, Italian arch ...

. 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. In addition, the palace houses some weapons belonged to

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

. 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 P ...

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 tha ...

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

References

External links

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Image gallery
* {{in lang, it}

Pretorio Renaissance architecture in Palermo