Palazzo Biscari

Culture, Monuments, Museum and historical sites
Via Museo Biscari, 10 - 95131 Catania
095 3287201

Monday to Sunday from 7.00 to 13.00 / from 15.00 to 19.00
By appointment it is possible to visit the palace from 13.00 to 15.00 and from 19.00 to 22.00

Visits can be booked by phone or on the website.

Along via Dusmet, not far from the “Pescheria”, it’s located the Palazzo Biscari, which takes its name from the Biscari principles who lived there.

After the earthquake in 1693, the previous palace was rebuilt and enlarged. It’s embedded on the curtain of the Charles V’s walls and it was altered several times throughout the eighteenth century, so it has several architectural styles. In fact, the south-west overlooking on the “Marina” is full of baroque ornaments such as grotesque cherubs and caryatids, the south-eastern part was made later and is neo-classic. The prospect of 160 meters makes it the largest baroque palace in the city.

It was completed in 1763 by Francesco Battaglia, the palace has more than 700 rooms and several chambers in rococo style, full of frescoes and decorations, most of which are kept in private homes and not open to visitors. Of course it’s important to not miss a visit to the ballroom that was completed in 1766 and look frescoes made by the painter Sebastiano Lo Monaco.

Inside the Palace in 1758 at the behest of the famous scholar and archaeologist Prince Ignazio Paternò Castello was established Biscari’s Museum that kept his large archeological collection, now partially moved to the Civic Museum in the Ursino Castle, that made the Palace a unmissable destination for the most important cultural figures of the eighteenth and nineteenth.

Among the visitors we remember you the famous writer Goethe, who visited it in 1787 and celebrated the beauty of the palace in his book “Journey to Italy”. English soliders appreciated it too. In fact during Second World War, they wanted to use Palazzo Biscari as a defensive position but, after having realized its historic and architectural value, they prefered to reside there.

The building is still largely inhabited by Biscari family’s descendants and its main halls are often used for social and cultural events.