Architecture in Sicily

Introduction

Today, the history of Italy is often thought of in terms of the Roman empire, Dante, Petrarch, St. Francis of Assisi and St. Thomas Aquinas of the 1200s[,] the Vatican in Rome, the Renaissance and its giants such [as] Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo and Titian among others and Galileo and [Niccolò] Machiavelli, the era of opera in the 1800s with Rossini, Donizetti, Verdi and Puccini among others and finally the unification of the country in 1860 and Garibaldi.

Under such a scheme, Sicily hardly features in the history of Italy with only the appearance of the painter Antonello da Messina in the 1400s and the opera composer Bellini [in] the 1800s. (There were of course many other famous and world class Sicilians who are the subject of this book.)

Such a scheme, however, is misleading. Specifically, it neglects the Phoenician and Greek era of Sicily, the Norman kingdom of the island when the city of Palermo was richer than all of England, the era of Frederick II when the sonnet, used by Dante and Petrarch, was invented in Sicily together with the first vernacular language of Italy and the Baroque era with the Sicilian master [Serpotta] and architect Juvarra influencing all of Europe.

It also neglects the history of literature on the island from the time of the ancient Greeks, with Greek comedy said to have been invented in Sicily, through the 1800s and one of Italy’s most famous writers Giovanni Verga and the 1900s with two Sicilian Nobel laureates in literature Luigi Pirandello and the poet Quasimodo, not to mention the Sicilian language masters Veneziano from the 1500s, Giovanni Meli and Domenico Tempio from the 1700s, the world class folklorist Giuseppe [Pitrè] from the 1800s and Nino Martoglio, the poet, playwright and neorealist filmmaker from the very early 1900s. […]

Modern architectural style

We present a few brief snippets of some modern architects and their work in Sicily.

In 1953, the Venetian architectural master Carlo Scarpa renovated the palace of a one time port master of Palermo. Today, it is a museum and Walter Gropius calls it “A masterpiece. In Palermo I have seen the best museum design ever.”

“Danilo Dolci, educated as an architect, became a leading figure in the struggle to use nonviolent means to achieve social justice. He moved to Sicily in 1952 and died in 1999. While in Sicily, he helped to establish a “people’s college”, an educational center for primary school children; a variety of centers for conflict resolution”.

In 1955, Carlo Broggi [built] a 17 story skyscraper. Gae Aulenti has transformed a 17th century townhouse into a stunning, modern venue.

Palazzo Amoroso [was] built in 1974 by four Italian masters of rationalism, Gian Luigi Banfi, Ludovico Barbiano di [Belgiojoso], Enrico [Peressutti], Ernesto Nathan Rogers. [It] is a blend of ancient and modern styles.

Antonino Cardillo is a modern Sicilian architect. He studied in Rome and from 2007 until 2011 [designed] seven imaginary houses to international acclaim. In 2009, he was selected to be among the best thirty architects of the year by a British magazine.