In Catania, one of the most stunning Sicilian Baroque palaces, famous for what many have defined as the most beautiful staircase in the world, an engineering masterpiece with white stucco work nicknamed “cloud bow”.

The most beautiful private palace in Catania, its construction began after the earthquake that hit the Val di Noto in 1693 right above the sixteenth-century walls of the city which were spared, at the behest of Ignazio Paternò Castello III Prince of Biscari who obtained the precious permission to built by the lieutenant general Giuseppe Lanza, Duke of Camastra, architect of the reconstruction of Catania, envoy of the King of Spain Charles II of Habsburg.

Still owned by the descendants of the family that built it, Palazzo Biscari has literally witnessed the major events of the region from the 1600s to today and has been visited by all the great historical figures who have stayed there, from J. W. Goethe who wrote about it in Trip to Italy to the Queen Mother of England.

It is hardly possible to form a correct idea of Italy without having seen Sicily; here lies the key to everything.

(Johann Wolfgang von Goethe)

During the Second World War, it was even requisitioned by the Allies, who decided to put offensive cannons there considering the strategic position right in front of the port. Seeing its beauty, they changed their mind and transformed him into their operational commando as tells one of the paintings in the ballroom still showing the hole left by the ball thrown by General Montgomery’s men who used to play tennis there.

Two masterpieces of the Palace strike the visitor in particular: the decorations of the seven splendid windows overlooking the Marina, the work of the Messina sculptor Antonino Amato, in white Syracuse stone that emerge from the black background of the lava base, and the astonishing wave-shaped spiral staircase, original engineering work decorated with stucco in the second half of the 18th century.

The palace belonged to the Princes of Biscari until the mid-19th century and then, through various succession passages, it became the property of the Moncada Paternò Castello family who still partly inhabit it today, while its main halls are often used for important social and cultural events.

In 2008, for example, the building was featured in the video for the song Violet Hill by the English band Coldplay and in 2023 scenes were filmed for the long-awaited Netflix series “The Leopard”.

The Secret

The Biscari Museum, a set of collections of naturalia and artificialia created by Ignazio Paternò Castello, 5th prince of Biscari, was the third public museum in the world after the opening of the Capitoline and Vatican Museums, whose collections were then acquired in 1927 by the Museum Civic Castello Ursino where they are kept today.

Useful Info

Palazzo Biscari
Via Museo Biscari 10
95131 Catania
Tel. +39 328 7201

Entrance: ticket 10 euro; reduced 6 euro