Bagheria plus

In Bagheria, Palermo's nobility built their villas in the 18th century, and Goethe spent a whole day here in 1787. Later the town turned to production: citrus fruits, preserves, pasta, essential lemon oil, exported to Europe and America, and anchovies caught at Aspra. Two itineraries to listen to one after the other, inside Villa Palagonia and through the streets of the town. Stay at least a full day. That tradition of work is found today at the table: sfincione, ice creams, family-run trattorias, two Michelin-starred restaurants. The local tourist office accompanies the visit and helps you choose among the area's producers and venues.

Bagheria

Available itineraries

Villa Palagonia

On April 9, 1787, Goethe arrived in Bagheria and spent an entire day counting tuff monsters like a naturalist before an unknown species. When asked where those creatures came from, the prince replied that his stone generated them on its own, like the silt of the Nile. In eleven stops you cross the entrance archway, the double-flight staircase, the Hall of Mirrors, and the dining loggia where a clockwork mechanism hidden in the table sprayed water on the guests. Goethe himself opens the itinerary. The contents of this itinerary are original texts, developed on the basis of historical and documentary research published in: Rosario Scaduto, Villa Palagonia. Storia e restauro, Bagheria, Eugenio Maria Falcone Editore, 2007 ("Studi di architettura" series), ISBN 978-88-88335-24-7.

Bagheria

Bagheria is born from an escape: that of Giuseppe Branciforte, who in 1658 leaves Palermo and builds himself a hermitage among the olive trees. The court follows him, and in a century the retreat becomes a city of villas. The itinerary takes you from the station to Palazzo Aragona Cutò, to the Guttuso Museum at Villa Cattolica, to Villa Palagonia of the monsters and to Villa Valguarnera, with detours toward the sea of Aspra and the archaeological parks of Himera and Monte Jato.