Palazzo Trinacria

The Pietro Barbaro Foundation in Palermo has put together a beautiful and unusual Van Gogh exhibition. In the last room, there’s autobiographical information on teletext. Before that, visitors can use a mask with a projector to immerse themselves in some of his best-known paintings, which I found very moving. The main experience is a series of evocative video images projected on the walls, with lovely music and a beautiful voiceover that sounds as if the artist himself is speaking. Congratulations to the foundation.

The building itself is beautiful, but I wasn’t impressed by the immersive art show. At 12 euros, it didn’t feel worth it. I’d have paid 4, since it was just images and there weren’t any paintings by the artists.

The last part of the Banksy exhibition is here. A must-see, highly recommended!

Today the Pietro Barbaro Foundation owns this palace, and the ground floor hosts exhibitions and conferences. Its story goes back to 1840, when Prince of Trabia commissioned architects Andrea Gigante and Vincenzo Trombetta to design it as a hotel, entrusting it to the Genoese Salvatore Ragusa. It opened in 1844 and hosted the King of Bavaria as well as other illustrious guests. Two plaques on the façade remember Giuseppe Garibaldi and the Romanian patriot Nicola Balcescu. Tomasi di Lampedusa set Prince Salina’s final hours here in The Leopard. The palace overlooks the Marina and became a private residence after it was sold in 1911.