Branciforte Palace

Description

Visit Palazzo Branciforte, a sixteenth century building in the heart of Palermo, recently restored by the great Italian architect Gae Aulenti. The Palazzo is an area open to the public where history meets archaeology, modern and contemporary art, with a historical library containing more than 40,000 books, and a place for the great Italian culinary tradition (the Gambero Rosso cooking school).

The Palazzo is home to exhibition areas for the important Fondazione Sicilia collections of archaeological artifacts, coins, stamps, tin-glazed pottery (maiolica), sculpture and fresco on panel.

The archaeological collection and the historic majolica collection are displayed on the ground floor, while the main floor houses the stamp, coin and sculpture collections, along with the historical Library which preserves more than 40,000 books from the Fondazione Sicilia collection. From here you can make your way to the splendid rooms of the Monte di Santa Rosalia, a rare surviving example of wooden architecture, now housing temporary art exhibitions.