A day at the Palace

Today I've been to visit the Palace here in Scicli which is owned by a very influencial Italian family. The grandmother, who is 78, is passionate about people and embroidery! Her daughter showed us, Francesca and Pepe who live in Venice but have a holiday home here in Scicli, around their magnificent home. The building itself is unassuming from the front, you'd hardly notice it was there. Yet when they opened the doors, the sheer scale of the magnificent entrance hits you. Housing a Harley Davidson and a Mini estate, this set the scene for what was to come. The family have lived in the house for over 40 years and have renovated the building during that time. From the ceilings with beautiful fresco scenes, chandeliers, statues, it was hard to take it all in particuarly trying to understand the significance of every piece described in their broken english. We were there for almost two hours by which time I was ready for my plate of antipasto and a glass of vino blanco!
It's unusual for people with wealth to be so open and friendly, usually they are closed. This family are taking the restoration of this palace very seriously and it's lovely to meet such interesting and genuine people. They seemed more than happy to share their lovely home with us. The palace is filled with memories of family members with some wonderful old black and white photographs from years ago. There's a photo of the grandfather, I think it was, with the Pope. Old wedding photographs, family scenes from the past 40 years which just made me want to know more about this great family. The grandmother encourages the local embroiderers to create table linen to help them make a little money and which she sells to families all over Italy. She's a great collector and had some magnificent pieces to show us. I can appreciate the time taken to create such amazingly intricate pieces.In fact, Francesca was smitten and had to buy some for her home here in Scicli.I have photos to share once I am back in the UK. Until then.. love xxx