After the 1693 earthquake that destroyed almost the entire city of Catania, Ignazio Paternò Castello III, Prince of Biscari, obtained permission to build the new family palace on the ramparts of Charles V’s city walls. The work lasted more than a century and the major architects, sculptors and decorators of the time collaborated in its realisation. There were six hundred rooms in the Palace, however, it is now only possible to visit the courtyard, some rooms, the ballroom, the gallery, and the terrace overlooking the port. The centre hall, or ballroom, is a sumptuous Rococò style room, with mirrors, stucco and decorations. The musicians reached the loggia on the roof of the ballroom by climbing up a trembling “cloud shaped” stair.
The Palace, one of the most important in Sicily, is also the perfect venue for a gala dinner or lunch, an occasion, for example, to discover an almost forgotten piece of the Sicilian culinary tradition, the Baroque cuisine, carried out in many Sicilian noble palaces by French chefs during the 18th and 19th centuries.
