Palazzo Abatellis (Galleria Regionale della Sicilia)

Palazzo Abatellis, on Via Alloro in the Kalsa district of Palermo, Sicily, Italy, houses the Galleria Regionale della Sicilia, the island's main collection of medieval and Renaissance art. The palace was built between 1490 and 1495 for Francesco Patella, the maritime prefect of the kingdom, in a style that blends late Gothic-Catalan elements with early Renaissance forms. It was badly damaged by Allied bombing in 1943, and was rebuilt and converted into a gallery in the 1950s by the architect Carlo Scarpa, whose minimalist display design is considered a landmark of museum architecture. The collection is arranged in a chronological and thematic sequence across the ground and upper floors. The best-known work is the fresco Trionfo della Morte (Triumph of Death), painted in the 15th century and originally in the Palazzo Sclafani, which shows Death riding a skeletal horse and shooting arrows at the living. Another highlight is the Annunciata by Antonello da Messina, a small portrait of the Virgin from about 1476 admired for its calm and its modern psychological quality. The museum also holds the marble bust of Eleonora of Aragon by Francesco Laurana, Gagini sculptures, Flemish paintings including the Malvagna Triptych by Jan Gossaert, and works in wood, ceramic and gold. The rooms preserve the palace's architecture, including the courtyard with an arcaded loggia and the chapel with a Gothic portal. Scarpa's approach used neutral walls and carefully placed supports to isolate each work. The palace is generally in good condition, following the post-war reconstruction. The collection offers a useful introduction to Sicilian artistic history between the Norman period and the Renaissance.