artifactual

a-l-ancien-regime:

Palazzo Valguarnera-Gangi, Palermo, Sicily. The house was constructed in several phases during the 18th century and completed circa 1780.

Painted panels in the dome by Giuseppe Velasco.

In 1963 the palazzo, and most memorably its ballroom, were the setting for Luchino Visconti’s film’ Il Gattopardo (The Leopard).

The palace is designed in the Baroque style, although its ornamentation is of a more severe form than that which is generally accepted as Sicilian Baroque.  In a way the architecture could be said to be more Renaissance than Baroque.

The creation of the house took so long that the Baroque style passed from fashion in favour of the neoclassical style.