PALAZZO BUTERA: 1692-2021

In the rabbit warren of alleys that thread through the Kalsa, the old Arab quarter of Palermo, you will find street signs with the street names in three languages:  Italian, Hebrew, and Arabic, like this one.

These street signs testify to the history of Palermo in particular and Sicily in general as a crossroads of cultures.  But these signs are more than testaments to a rich, multi-cultural, medieval historical era when Normans, Jews, and Arabs lived together in Sicily in a harmonic whole.  They are also signposts to a future Europe that could be as rich and respectful of “others” as was Sicily in the 12^th century.

Massimo Valsecchi and his wife Francesca Frua de Angeli (above), newcomers to Palermo and the most recent owners of one of its most important palazzi, Palazzo Butera, seem to view their adopted city and their palatial home this way, as an interview in the Il Sole/24 newspaper suggests (I have attempted to improve upon the rough Google translation and odd punctuation):

Valsecchi…buys Palazzo Butera at the end of 2015, the year in which Europe faces its first serious migration crisis.  He begins the project in 2016 and wants to complete it in 2019, the year in which Palermo has been chosen as the capital of Italian culture.  He describes this work as being performed “in a period in which we are crushed by the [European general] consensus in which we debate the false problem of immigration, a period in which one wonders how and what to do with hospitality. I chose Sicily for this reason too. Immigration is a problem that cannot be solved.  You Sicilians have been managing it for centuries; you have hospitality in your DNA.  You are an overlap, an overproduction of cultures, from the Phoenicians to the dozens of languages ​​that are heard today in Ballarò [a sprawling outdoor Palermo market]. The church here, that of Father Cosimo Scordato, is more about welcome and openness than liturgy.  Those who arrive do not have to make the sign of the cross.  There are no conflicts; Bengalis and Africans participate in the feast of Santa Rosalia as if it were their own. Palermo has always been a living city, a unique place where real life flows. And it is a city in this Europe in crisis which, however, is the only continent that has been and is an incredible and inimitable place of ​​movement."

The Valsecchis have put 17^th century Palazzo Butera and their private collection into the service of this moral, modern goal:  the integration of cultures through art and the re-imagination of Palermo as its artistic and cultural crossroad. 

Who are these 21^st century patrons of the arts?  Seventy-seven-year-old Valsecchi was born in Genoa and lived in London for many years, where he worked first as an insurance and financial broker and later taught history of industrial design.  It was in London that he met his wife, the granddaughter of one of Italy’s most famous collectors.  Together they amassed an eclectic, very personal art collection in England before moving to Milan, where they opened a contemporary art gallery.  Legend has it that the Valsecchis offered their collection to a museum in Milan, but that negotiations broke down.   

On a visit to Palermo in 2015, the Valsecchis fell in love with the city and spontaneously decided to move with their collection into the derelict 100,000 square foot Palazzo Butera.  The palace had been unoccupied for at least 50 years and was then owned by 27 heirs (you cannot disinherit a spouse or child in Italy) who wanted to sell it but had had great difficulty finding a buyer willing to take on such a massive challenge.  Enter Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi to the rescue.

Rumor has it that the Valsecchis financed their purchase of the palace and its top-to-tail restoration by selling one Gerhard Richter painting.  One might call this exchange of art-to-palace-to-art museum alchemy.  I call it the best thing to happen to Palermo since the 12^th century.

To read about the extensive restoration of Palazzo Butera and the Valsecchi’s expansive plans to open their home to the world as a museum, provide a 20,000-square-foot artist-in-residence space, and create a research and education center, I recommend the website.  But let’s have a look at this beautiful palace, starting with its location and its grand exterior.

You can see from the city plan above, that Palazzo Butera sits at the edge of Palermo, separated from the water only by the coastal road Foro Italico.  Here is a view of the palace exterior. 

Drawings drawn and permits in hand, the Valsecchis set out to completely modernize the defunct building, excavating floors to add underfloor heating, adding a security system and modern necessities, but not without first devoting time to historical research and taking great care to preserve and restore the wreck to its former glory.  When it came to the gardens, the Valsecchis and their architect Giovanni Cappelletti retained as much of the ancient vegetation in the courtyards as possible.   

Here is a view of the gigantic jacaranda in one of the two courtyards.  Over the centuries, this venerable tree found a route to the underground cistern that once served the palace.  The root was contained in majolica tiles in 1922 and was discovered during the excavation of the courtyard and ground floor.  Not wanting to disturb either the jacaranda or the past, Cappelletti designed a glass and steel floor system to showcase nature's persistence.

The breadth of the Valsecchi collection is best explained by the guidebook available at the ticket office:

The purpose of this guide is to provide you with the key details of what you will see as you walk through the spaces at Palazzo Butera.  The most important pieces of the Francesca and Massimo Valsecchi collection are now here after long-term loans to the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford, UK (2016-2020).  They are on display alongside works that have been on show in the Palazzo since the beginning of its restoration.  On the ground floor you will see contemporary works that mark the start of the Valsecchis’ life-long journey with art.  On the first and second floors the intertwining threads of the Valsecchis’ research and interests are on show:  from old masters to monochrome porcelains, from the fragility of glass to the solid presence of English Industrial Revolution furniture.  You will notice there are no exhibit labels in the museum.  Instead we are inviting you to engage with the web of associations on show--combining rooms, frescoes, pictures, installations and objects.  We invite you not to give in to the temptation to search out the most famous works but rather ask you to enjoy, above all, the fruits of your own intuitive gaze.

Let’s start with the contemporary art on the ground floor.  This is the cavallerizza (the former stable and coach house), with a work by Tom Phillips, followed by the former kitchens and service area, with works by Elisabeth Scherffig, David Tremlett, Anne and Patrick Poiriers, and Eugenio Ferretti, in that order.

 

To view the rest of the collection, we move into the palace proper to access the upper floors.

The Grand Staircase (above, viewed looking down from the First Floor) was designed by Giacomo Amato at the beginning of the 18^th century.  It is made of red Ogliastro marble and railed with elaborate iron work.   

The pièce de résistance, however, is the frescoed ceiling (above) by Giacomo Martorana, one of the most important artists working in Palermo at that time.

The grand stair leads up to the First Floor, where you will find rooms in blue, green, and pink (colors original to the palace), the library, and art glass such as these Art Nouveau examples.

From the library (above), you can walk out to the 11,000 square foot terrace overlooking the water and watch the cruise ships and car ferries like this one in the distance come to port.

From here, retracing your steps through the library and the blue room, the grand stair takes you up to the Second Floor, where you will find the eclectic mix described in the guidebook of old and new fine art, like these charming genre studies of 17th century palace life by Gaspare Vizzini,

  and Italian landscapes by various English artists,

 

There are also contemporary works by David Tremlett,

Andy Warhol,

Gilbert & George,

and Tom Phillips, seen in the self-portrait below.  The blurred image by Phillips is not a bad photo; it's from his series Conjectured Pictures.

English furniture and furnishings round out the collection and speak to the Valsecchis' years spent in London.

 

The Second Floor also offers evidence of past renovations of the palace, such as this false ceiling, which Cappelletti decided to leave as he found it,

and his deliberate reveal of the vast forest of trees felled to support the palace floors.

An elevator on the Second Floor leads to the roof, where a metal stair takes you up to the Torrino (large tower)

and these panoramic views.

 

If you find yourself in Palermo, hungry for the harmony its 12th century inhabitants consciously created and carefully cultivated, Palazzo Butera may just be the place to find it in the 21st. 

Keep it real!  And wear your damn mask!

Marilyn