Palaces of Sicily

by Angheli Zalapi, Gioacchino Lanza Tomasi, Melo Minnella (Photographer)

Following the success of" Portrait of Venice "and "Palaces of Rome," this beautiful book tours the palaces, villas, and castles of Sicily.
From the ancient Roman villa of Piazza Armerina through the Arab castles, baroque masterpieces such as Villa Pallagonia, to the art-nouveau Villa Bordonaro alle Croci- these pages reveal 30 public and private dwellings built and furnished by Italy's greatest architects and artists over the centuries. Luxuriant gardens full of flowers and statues, antique tapestries, glorious frescoed, and priceless furniture appear in hundreds of full-color photographs. History, art and anecdote intertwine in the text for an enchanting view of Sicily's great heritage.

Genres: Nonfiction, Italy, History

323 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 1998

Reviews

[Frank Peters · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book filled with beautiful pictures that describe palaces in Sicily. The pictures are amazing and deserve 5 stars. The book unfortunately, it not very good for anyone who is not already knowledgeable about Sicilian architectural history. As a novice in the area, the writing in the book was largely confusing. The author assumes far more of his readers than I believe is appropriate. He assumes full knowledge of the geography of Sicily, including all the various regions of Palermo. No maps were provided to help locate the various palaces. He also assumes a full historical knowledge of the people of Sicily: political, cultural, artistic and architectural. Names are dropped, as if any reader will of course recognise an apparently famous 7th Century Neapolitan architect. The author uses what I believe is a technical language in describing the various parts of the Sicilian palaces. While this was (for me) confusing, it is more forgivable since I am a complete novice in this area. Finally, the text correlated poorly with the pictures provided. The book would be greatly improved if the text would refer to the specific pictures, rather than having any linkages merely implicit, and thus typically missed. Ultimately, unless you are a near expert in these areas, the text is virtually useless and while the pictures are amazing, the captions for the figures were minimal at best. So, this is a very poor book for a non-expert unless they are only interested in looking at pretty pictures.

[Michael Heath-Caldwell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good, very interesting book on the palazzi and villas of Sicily