Palermo to Open Museum of Liberty and Art Nouveau Itinerary

The Sicilian Region has allocated €3 million to establish the Museo Regionale del Liberty – Villa Deliella on the site of the demolished Villa Deliella in Palermo. The museum will be part of a broader Itinerario dell'Art Nouveau that includes Villino Ida (future Basile museum), Villino Florio (temporary exhibitions), and Villino Favaloro (future Regional Museum of Photography). The announcement by President Nello Musumeci and Culture Councillor Alberto Samonà follows a 2019 workshop with architects including Mario Cucinella. Villa Deliella, designed by Ernesto Basile and built 1905–1909, was demolished in November 1959 just before a cultural heritage protection order could be issued, sparking outrage from critics Giulio Carlo Argan and Bruno Zevi, who called it "a new kind of banditry." The demolition became a symbol of Palermo's postwar building speculation known as the "Sacco di Palermo." The new museum will not reconstruct the villa but create a new space with a green area. Critics, including art critic Eva Di Stefano who launched a Change.org petition, argue for preserving the site as urban archaeology or using existing Basile buildings like Villino Ida instead. The debate divides Palermo's intellectual community.