Bagheria Attractions
Communications
A 19 and SS 113 Palermo-Cefalù; railroad station.
Location
The small town of Bagheria is situated 12km/7mi to the east of Palermo in the middle of well-watered countryside with rich vegetation. In the 17th and 18th century villas were built here by the aristocracy of Palermo who wanted to reside away from the viceroy's seat of Palermo itself, but not too far. They wished to live in beautiful surroundings and in a style befitting their rank. Many of the villas have been considerably altered, converted and added to since then and are frequently not in a good state of repair.
A 19 and SS 113 Palermo-Cefalù; railroad station.
Location
The small town of Bagheria is situated 12km/7mi to the east of Palermo in the middle of well-watered countryside with rich vegetation. In the 17th and 18th century villas were built here by the aristocracy of Palermo who wanted to reside away from the viceroy's seat of Palermo itself, but not too far. They wished to live in beautiful surroundings and in a style befitting their rank. Many of the villas have been considerably altered, converted and added to since then and are frequently not in a good state of repair.
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Villa Butera
The first villa in a long line came about when in 1658 Giuseppe Branciforte, Prince of Butera, disappointed that his hope of gaining the office of Spanish Viceroy in Sicily had not been fulfillled, built the Villa Butera as a fortress-like manor house surrounded by extensive gardens (Corso Butera).
Villa Cattólica
The Villa Cattólica was constructed shortly after 1700 by Francesco Bonanni, Principe di Cattólica. It is a compact building, lying on an eminence, and with its three storys it towers over the neighboring buildings. Since 1974 the villa has housed the municipal Galleria d'Arte Moderna with works by Renato Guttuso, who was born in Bagheria in 1912, and other contemporary painters (on the SS 113).
Villa Valguarnera
The most lavish of the villas is the Villa Valguarnera (Piazza Garibaldi) with its drive leading up to it, its oval courtyard flanked by columned halls, and the concave-shaped façade approached by a double flight of steps. The Dominican architect Tommaso M. Napoli built it in 1714 for the Principessa Anna Valguarnera.
Villa Villarosa
Near the Villa Butera in Bagheria stands the Villa Villarosa, a good 130 years more recent. It was built between 1790 and 1792 by the architect Giovanni Venanzio Marvuglia. A neoclassical building with spectacular Corinthian columns along its front façade, it belongs to the last of the architectural styles in evidence in Bagheria.
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