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Palazzo Duca di S. Stefano at Taormina

The palace's square structure, massiveness, position and battlemented walls make it look like a fortress, therefore making people think that the initial constructor was a Norman. This 13th century palace, situated near Porta Catania (Catania Gate), has a beautiful garden in front of its main facades facing east and north and was the home of the De Spuches, a noble family of Spanish origin, who were Dukes of S. Stefano di Brifa and Princes of Galati, two towns on the Jonian coast in the Messina area.

Palazzo Duca di S. Stefano is surely one of the masterpieces of Sicilian Gothic art, in which the elements of Arabian and Norman art merge. Arabian reminiscences are aroused by the decoration on the top part of the palace: a wide frieze runs along the east and north facades formed by a wavy decoration in lavic stone alternated with rhombus-shaped inlays in white Siracusa stone, together forming a magnificent lace of marquetry. Norman art instead is recalled by its square tower-like plan and by what remains of the swallow-tailed merlons on the top of the building.

The Palace is made up of three square overlapping sections. The entrance to the ground floor is an ogival arch constructed with squared blocks of black basalt (lavic stone) and white granite (Taormina stone). The first floor was reached by means of drawbridges and moving staircases through the small door which can still today be seen between the two mullioned windows on the first floor. An internal staircase, made entirely of wood, was reproduced when the building was restored. On the second floor there are four beautiful windows indisputably in Gothic style, two facing east and two facing north, the noble prospects of the palace.

The four mullioned windows have an elaborate structure with rosettes and small trilobe arches as well as triple cordons framing the ogival arches. A column of pink granite stands in the middle of the ground floor and is thought to have once been in the Greek Theatre. In the gardens overlooked by the noble facades there is a well for the collection of rain-water (a puteal) which was the water supply for the whole palace.

The municipality of Taormina only gained possession of Palazzo Duca di S. Stefano in 1964 when it was bought for 64 million lire from Vincenzo De Spuches, a young descendant of the De Spuches family, who lived in Palermo. Some say that before the year 1400 the Palace had been the city residence of the Prince of Castel Mola.

Palazzo Duca di S. Stefano today houses the Mazzullo Foundation, run by a clever sculptor who has succeeded in turning tradition into modernism. Many of his sculptures are on show in the palace.

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