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The Villa Spedalotto is the country home of the Paternò di Spedalotto family. The villa is situated on a hill surrounded by olive groves at Bagheria, near Palermo in Sicily. Traditionally used only by the family during the spring and autumn, the villa houses a large art collection that is occasionally open to the public. While considered a national monument, it remains essentially a private residence.

Architecturally, the house is notable for its neoclassical facades. Built in the late 18th century when Sicilian Baroque was falling from favour, the house shows influences of the neo-Grecian style which in Sicily immediately followed the Baroque. The interior of the villa has rooms decorated in early-Empire style, sometimes known as Pompeian, which involved copious quantities of trompe l'oeil. This became a fashion in Sicily following the British occupation of Sicily in the early 19th century. So welcome were the British for protecting Sicily from the French that all things British came into vogue. At the Villa Spedalotto, the trompe l'oeil is clearly inspired by both Adam and Wedgewood.^[1]

The house, which is low, is built arownd an open courtyard of two wings flanking the corps de logis, at the centre of which is a large Greek revival portico giving access to the villa. The windows are ornamented by alternating pointed and segmented pediments.

A distinguishing feature of the villa is the use of blue and white Caltagirone tiles, which cover not only the broad terrace looking towards the mountains but also the double staircase leading to it.

The villa has a chapel where in 1984, a daughter of the family, Silvia Paternò di Spedalotto, married The Duke of Aosta, a claimant to the Italian throne.

1. ^ Gefen p139.

• Gefen, Gérard (2001). Sicily, Land of the Leopard Princes. Tauris Parke. 
• Hamel, Pasquale (1994). Breve storia della societa siciliana (1790-1980). Sellerio di Giorgianni, Palermo. 

• Image of The Empire style salon of the Villa Spedalotto retrieved 23 January 2007.
• Trompe l'oeil at the Villa Spedalotto retrieved 23 January 2007.
• Anna Paternò Marchesa di Spedalotto on the terrace of Villa Spedalotto in 1991.

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