Grand Hotel Et Des Palmes

The Grand Hotel delle Palme began in 1874 in the aristocratic house of the Ingham-Whitaker family, which was built previously in 1856 and connected, by a secret passage, to the Anglican church which is still today in front of the Hotel.

This aristocratic building had two floors, a winter garden (the present Reception) and an exotic garden which reached down to the sea. The wedding between the widow Ingham and Giacomo Medici changed the destiny of the “house”, which, became the property of a local person and then became the Grand Hotel et des Palmes, known to all people in Palermo as “Le Palme”.

Ernesto Basile, one of the best masters of Liberty-style, altered the hotel in 1907 and English decorators created the splendid carved wooden ceiling in the present ‘Caminetto’ salon.

The history of Sicily was written at the Grand Hotel et des Palmes: In 1881, Richard Wagner completed his “Parsifal”; in 1882, Francesco Crispi gave political lessons; Vittorio Emanuele Orlando often stayed here; the French writer, Raymond Roussel lived here until his death; General Charles Poletti made it his headquarters during the Second World War, and lastly, Baron Di Stefano, condemned by a mafia sentence of immediate death or exile, chose reclusion at the Palme and remained here for 50 years, until his death.

Up to the present, the history, the personages who have visited and the beauty of the salons all make it one of the most well-known hotels in the world, but above all, make it a “Hotel with a Soul”.

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