Galleria Regionale di Palazzo Bellomo

About the museum

Palazzo Bellomo, on Ortigia, is a building of the 13th and 14th centuries whose foundation dates back to the Hohenstaufen period. It has two construction phases: the Swabian phase, recognisable in the bastioned structure of the ground floor and the Gothic portal, and the 15th-century phase of the upper floor, in the civil Catalan Gothic style. In 1365 it passed to the Bellomo family; in 1722 the nuns of the nearby monastery of San Benedetto bought it and used it as a storehouse and dormitory, until the expropriation laws of 1866 removed it from this use, and in 1901 it was handed over to the Administration of Fine Arts, which began the first restorations.

The gallery’s collections of medieval and modern art, dating from the Byzantine period to the 18th century, come from the Museo Archeologico di Siracusa, which transferred them to Palazzo Bellomo in 1940–1948 to enhance them. Some of the works come from churches and convents of south-eastern Sicily, acquired after the suppression of the religious orders in 1866; others arrived through purchases and donations. The museum was opened in 1948, and the present display was completed only in the 1970s.

The route, in chronological order, includes sculptures and paintings by Antonello Gagini, Francesco Laurana, Antonello da Messina (with the Annunciation of 1474), Mario Minniti, Guglielmo Borremans and Gaetano Zummo, as well as rich collections of sacred silverware and the sarcophagi of the governors of the Camera Reginale, Giovanni Çabastida and Giovanni Cardenas.

Highlights

• Annunciation by Antonello da Messina (1474)
• Sarcophagi of the governors of the Camera Reginale, Giovanni Çabastida and Giovanni Cardenas
• Collections of sacred silverware
• Works by Antonello Gagini, Francesco Laurana, Mario Minniti and Gaetano Zummo
• Gothic portal of the Swabian-Catalan palace
• Coats of arms from the vanished Porta Ligny in the courtyard

Permanent exhibition

• Collezioni d'arte medievale e moderna – Sculptures, paintings and sacred silverware from the Byzantine period to the 18th century, in chronological order, including Antonello da Messina’s Annunciation.

Founded

1948

Operated by

Regione Siciliana

Visitors per year

approx. 22,591

Admission & discounts

Prices from the regional guide consulted (2022); according to the same source, state museums are free on the first Sunday of the month.

Accessibility

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Amenities & dining

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