Taormina's Palace

PALAZZO CORVAJA The Arab domination lasted from the 9th to the 11th century in Sicily and, in Taormina in particular, they stayed from 902 to 1079 A.D. It was precisely in the eleventh century that the Arabs strengthened the town’s defences, building, among others, a tower which was none other than the main part of the actual Palazzo Corvaja. 

A tower in the shape of a cube which reminded the Arabs of their sacred “Al Ka ‘bah’, and therefore, according to Mohammed, it was the first temple erected for God by Abraham of Mecca. The tower was enlarged at the end of the 13th century with the addition of the body of the building which is on the left after entering the entrance portal. With this new wing of the building, the access steps from the courtyard to the first floor were created. On the ground floor there are three splendid panels of Syracuse stone, sculpted in high-relief; the first representing the creation of Eva, the second the original sin and the third the chasing out of Paradise. The right wing of the Palazzo was created at the beginning of 1400 for Sicilian Parliament meetings, that were held there before 1411 in the great 4th century salon, in the presence of Queen Bianca of Navarra, reigning Sicily at that time.

It is for this reason that Palazzo Corvaja is also called the palace of parliament or of the queen, Bianca of Navarra. However, the palazzo takes its name from the name of the Corvaja family, one of the most ancient and noble in Taormina. A family from which came illustrious men who were literally involved in the administration of the town and also in the magistracy. Until the end of the second world war, in 1945, Palazzo Corvaja was in a pitiful state of total abandonment and various families had lived there. When liberation came, in 1945, the first mayor after the war expropriated the palazzo and during 1945 to 1948, the Naples architect, Armando Dillon, renovated the entire building.

 In 1960, a new wing was built on which today houses the autonomous Tourist Information offices. Next to the Odeon, a short distance from the Agorà and the Zecca, close to the Naumachie entrance, and a stone’s throw from the Greek Roman Theatre, Palazzo Corvaja is certainly one of the obligatory points of reference for Taormina and its history. With regard to its architectonic style, it can certainly be affirmed that it is a mixture of styles considering the various eras in which it was built and added to. It begins with Arab style, then Gothic after having had Norman style additions.

The battlements of the tower are Arab, composed of a double series of square openings, surmounted by little merlons. The mullioned two-light windows of the 3rd century windows are Gothic. Mulllioned two-light windows that, in Gothic architecture, are divided by two columns to create three sections where light can enter. The 4th century salons are entirely Norman and the Sicilian Parliament meetings were held here.

PALAZZO DUCA DI S. STEFANO

The square structure, the entire mass, its position, the embattled walls which make it similar to a fortress, are all reasons to believe that the original builder was perhaps a Norman. Close to the Catania entrance, the thirteenth century building, has a beautiful garden in front of the two main façades to the east and the north and was the residence of an originally Spanish noble family, the De Spuches, Dukes of S. Stefano of Brifa and Princes of Galati, two towns on the Messina Ionian coast. Palazzo Duca di S. Stefano is certainly a masterpiece of Gothic Sicilian art, which combines elements of Arab and Norman art.

The Arab remains can be seen in the decoration at the top of the building: a wide frieze which runs along the two façades to the east and north comprising one wavy frieze in lava stone alternating with white Syracuse stone dowels in the shape of rhombi, which together form a magnificent inlaid embattlement. The Norman artwork can be seen in the square keep and the remains of the swallow-tail embattlements which decorate the top of the building. The Palazzo consists of three square overlapping elements. The entrance on the ground floor is through a Gothic (equilateral) arch, which was built with square black basalt (lava) stone and white granite (Taormina stone).

The entrance to the first floor is by means of drawbridges and moving staircases, through the little doorway which, can still be seen today, through the two mullioned windows on the first floor. An internal wooden staircase has been reproduced during the course of renovation. On the second floor, there are four beautiful windows of undisputed Gothic style, two on the eastern elevation and two on the northern one, the principal elevations of the building. Very intricate are the four mullioned windows with roses cut out, flamboyant trefoils and with triple coping of the jambs on the acute arches. In the centre of the ground floor there is a column of rose granite which is said to be from the Greek Theatre.

In the garden in front of the two main façades, there is a well collecting rainwater which supplied all the needs of the building. The town council of Taormina came into possession of the Palazzo of the Duke of St. Stefano only in 164, when, for the sum of 64 million lire, it bought it from Vincenzo De Spuches, a young descendant of the house of De Spuches who lived in Palermo. However, there are some people who say that, before 1400, the Palazzo was perhaps the town residence of the Lord of Castel Mola. Today, Palazzo St. Stefano is the headquarters of the Mazzullo Foundation, a clever sculptor who has ably modernised the traditional. Many of his works are preserved in the building.

BADIA VECCHIA

As with the Duca di S. Stefano Palazzo, Badia Vecchia was acquired by the Council in 1960 for 12 million lire. It was renovated soon after and then abandoned and left to the mercy of vandals. The Naples architect, Armando Dillon, sustained the theory that the name Badia Vecchia came from the fact that the building was the residence of the Abbess Mother Eufemia who, starting from 1355, was regent in the Kingdom of Sicily in the name of her younger brother Federico IV, called ‘The Simple’. But this is only one supposition, even if it is evocative.

 However, it seems that the building is called “Badia Vecchia” because it is believed to perhaps have been a ‘Badia’, that is an Abbey. One theory arises from the fact that a sacred painting was found in the bottom of a well used for the collection of rainwater, and it is thought to have been hidden there to save it from one of the many invasions that Taormina was a victim to. And all the niches or recesses inside it were believed to have been for icons and not simply as store places. The Gothic architecture of “Badia Vecchia” is very similar to that of the Duca di S. Stefano Palazzo.

It is therefore deducible that the two buildings are of the same period and therefore late thirteenth century. Therefore, in this building too, the Gothic style has influence of Arab and Norman art. “Badia Vecchia” has three parts with equal surface areas. A marcapiano frieze with lava stone and white Syracuse stone inlay work decorates and divides the first floor from the second. On the poggiano (laid) frieze, three magnificent mullioned windows are positioned next one another to form a single esafora window.

The top of the Badia Vecchia is decorated with swallowtail embattlements along all the façades which give the building the look of a fortified tower. The Badia Vecchia, like the Duca di S. Stefano Palazzo, must have been a fortress along the defence walls. The first protected the northern part of the city while the second, the southern part.