Palazzo Abatellis is home to the Regional Gallery of Sicily, a splendid museum where you can see one of the world’s most enchanting paintings: the Virgin Annunciate by Antonello da Messina.
This austere, elegant edifice was built between 1490 and 1495 by Matteo Carnelivari for the rich, influential Francesco Abatellis, Port Master of the Kingdom of Sicily, on the main road of the centuries-old neighborhood of Kalsa, near the port.
After Abatellis died, the building was turned into a convent, with alterations made to adapt it to monastic life.
After suffering severe damage in 1943 as a result of the bombing raids that followed the Allied landing in Sicily, the prestigious building was restored, and it was decided it was to host the Gallery of Medieval Art. The portico was thus rebuilt, along with the elegant loggia and the central hall, the ceiling of which had collapsed, and the large spaces - which had been divided into little rooms for the nuns - were restored. The architect Carlo Scarpa, one of the leading lights of modern museum design at the time, was entrusted with organizing what was then considered an avant-garde layout, and in 1954, the museum was opened to the public.
The austere facade, sandwiched between two different towers, is adorned with a magnificent portal, decorated with sturdy rods bound together with twisting ropes, topped with three coats of arms and flanked by two stones. Five elegant triple-light windows can be seen above the cornice. The architect, Carnelivari, clearly succeeded in his attempt to create a beautifully balanced facade without adding too many decorative elements.
On one side of the central courtyard is an elegant double loggia, while on the others, the walls are adorned with beautiful windows on the upper floor.
The museum’s layout is a masterpiece by Venetian architect Carlo Scarpa, who succeeded in enhancing both the works of art on display and the building that hosts them.
An interesting fact: in 1967, Walter Gropius, one of the leading architects of the 20th century, described Scarpa’s work as "the best museum design I have ever seen in my entire life”.
