October might be one of the best moments of the year to visit Palermo. These days in the capital you will have the chance to discover places that have been closed to the public for years.
9 sites previously permanently closed to the public will be open thanks to “Streets of Treasures” (“Le Vie dei Tesori”), an event that in 2015 gets to its 9th edition. Aristocratic homes, churches, catacombs, and private residences that host art masterpieces will open to the general public for five weekends, between October 2 and November 1. There will be 63 sites open, most of them featuring guided tours curated by the Friends of Sicilian museums association. And then 130 urban itineraries you can join, and 52 events related to the event that will involve the participation of journalists, writers, filmmakers and musicians. It could be the perfect time to visit the city then booking one of villas in Palermo or in the surroundings.
Among the open sites there will be 9 new entries, places that no one has visited in years:
- the almost unknown catacombs of the Archangel St. Michael, in the underground complex of Casa Professa,
- the “Room of the Scirocco” of Villa Naselli Alliata
- the sixteenth-century Bonocore palace in Piazza Pretoria, recently restored and full of frescoes, paintings, salons
- the Catalan Forcella De Seta palace, whose main floor gallery unfolds like an amazing little Alhambra palace and with its tower with a unique couple of windows, one Norman and the other Aragonese;
- the “chamber of wonders”, a room where Arabic decorations have been uncovered during restoration orks of an old building in Via Porta di Castro, in the old town;
- the former hospital Fatebenefratelli (now home to Benedetto Croce high school), with its Great Hall and the magnificent collection of frescoes, framed with a coffered ceiling;
- the sixteenth-century church of Santa Maria del Piliere, (in Piazzetta Angelini) where it was discovered a well of miraculous waters;
- the Church of the Origlione, a true jewel of seventeenth-century beauty with a nice walkway facing the nearby buildings from which the Benedictine monks could reach the Loggia on the Cassaro (the main street of the old town, today named after Vittorio Emanuele II)
- and the Oratory of Saints Peter and Paul in Via Matteo Bonello adorned by the statues of Serpotta.
Stronger figures are expected for this year’s edition, with 110,000 visitors in 12 days, the curator Laura Anello explains that “this is an event created in 2006 by the passion of journalists, writers and academics who wanted to do something for this city. Today “Le Vie dei Tesori” gives a unique chance to everybody, tourists and locals as well: discovering the hidden treasures of one of the most beautiful cities in Europe.
