Villa Valdina

It is located in the center of the Solanto plain, surrounded by a large agricultural land that borders its ends, the Castle on the sea side, and the ancient Consular de Spuches upstream. A large Baroque villa was built around the original fifteenth-century tower with two courtyards, an oval service one and a private square one. Gardens were planted around the house, richly decorated with vases and fountains. One of the gardens surrounded by walls encloses the delightful “Rocaille” chapel of the villa, with the façade covered with set shells. Pietro Novelli known as the “Monrealese”, a pupil from Palermo of Antoon van Dyck, was a guest of the Prince of Valdina for a few months in 1631. To repay his debt (he had fled from Palermo), he decorated the inside of the wall surrounding the garden of the chapel, with the Stations of the Cross, and the interior of the Chapel with frescoes of the Nativity. The frescoes on the wall have all but been erased by time, while those in the chapel were transferred to canvas in the 1970s. A plaque recalls that King Ferdinand III of Bourbon was a guest of this villa on two different occasions, on 7 May 1779 and a second time on 6 May 1780, for “venationis causa” (hunting).

The Villa is located in the municipality of Santa Flavia, near Bagheria.

In depth

Villa Valdina is a holiday residence, built between the 17th and 18th centuries by the Papè Principi di Valdina, Prothonotaries of the Kingdom. It is located in the center of the Solanto plain, surrounded by a large agricultural land that borders its ends, the Castle on the sea side, and the ancient Consular de Spuches upstream. A large Baroque villa was built around the original fifteenth-century tower with two courtyards, an oval service one and a private square one. Gardens were planted around the house, richly decorated with vases and fountains. One of thegardens surrounded by walls, encloses the delightful “Rocaille” Chapel of the villa, with the façade covered with set shells. Pietro Novelli known as the “Monrealese”, a pupil from Palermo of Antoon van Dyck, was a guest of the Prince of Valdina for a few months in 1631. To repay his debt (he had fled from Palermo), he decorated the inside of the wall surrounding the garden of the chapel, with the stations of the Via Crucis, and the interior of the chapel with frescoes of the Nativity. The frescoes on the wall have all but been erased by time, while those in the chapel were transferred to canvas in the 1970s. A plaque recalls that King Ferdinand III of Bourbon was a guest of this villa on two different occasions, on 7 May 1779 and a second time on 6 May 1780, for “venationis causa” (hunting).