Located inside the Parco della Favorita on Mount Pellegrino, the intriguing Chinese Palace (Palazzina cinese in Italian) with its oriental style was built by the Bourbon king Ferdinand III of Sicily in 1799 (also named Ferdinand Ist of the Two Sicilies) to be his residence. The architect Venanzio Marvuglia blended neoclassical and oriental inspirations, creating a highly original monument.
Visit and architecture of the palace
Square in shape, the building has five levels including three stories, and is topped by a pagoda. It is made up of numerous original and rather disparate elements. From the outside, the ground floor is surrounded by pointed-arch porticoes, and on both sides stand turrets with open helical staircases.
Chinese Palace
The various interior decorations are very rich, in exotic, Chinese, Turkish, or neoclassical and Pompeian styles. Great Palermo painters and Neapolitan artists contributed to them. There are also magnificent eclectic furnishings, often of Chinese or antique inspiration.
In the basement is the ballroom in Louis XVI style decorated by Giuseppe Velasquez, the audience hall also known as the Chinese room, or the king’s bathroom.
The first floor can be reached via the exterior staircase, with the Chinese-style reception room with its painted fabrics, the dining room and the “mathematical table” of Marvuglia – whose mechanism allows dishes to be raised directly onto the table, inspired by the one Loriot created for Louis XV in the Petit Trianon -, or the king’s bedroom with its Chinese-style vault.
On the second floor are the queen’s quarters with her reception rooms such as the Turkish salon, the bedrooms and the very beautiful bathroom.
On the top floor, the large octagonal terrace is covered by a pagoda.
Behind the palace stretches a charming Italian garden with its hedges, fountains and centuries-old trees.
An outbuilding houses the Pitrè Ethnographic Museum, dedicated to Sicilian folk arts and traditions, founded in 1909.
Where is the Chinese Palace of Palermo
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Information
| Palazzina Cinese Viale Duca degli Abruzzi, 1, 90149 Palermo Open Tuesday to Saturday, with variable hours: generally 9am–1pm on Tuesdays and Wednesdays, and 9am–7pm from Thursday to Saturday; closed on Mondays. Source from external sites
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