![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.justsicily.it\/JS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1434-1140x855-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\nThe building was constructed at the end of the 1700s at the behest of the nobleman Benedetto Lombardo. Even in the first version of the building, the intention was to create a structure with exotic features, following what was a real fashion at the time. Interest in the Orient arose from trade on the famous Silk Road, followed by direct exchanges from the mid-1500s. By the 1700s, the so-called \u201cChinoiserie d\u00e9cor\u201d, or \u201ccineserie\u201d in Italian, had spread throughout Europe. <\/p>\n\n
Chinoiserie in Palermo<\/h4>\n\n
Despite the name, oriental objects and artifacts came not only from China but also from other Asian countries, Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. Thus, the fashion for oriental products and the exaltation of the Orient\u2014criticized, among other things, in Edward Said\u2019s famous book Orientalism\u2014took hold, and Palermo was by no means exempt. However, the ultimate expression of this trend in Palermo was the Palazzina alla Cinese, a building entirely dedicated to this fashion. The building, which, as mentioned, already existed, reached its current state under its next owner: none other than Ferdinand III of Bourbon. The sovereign had fled Naples, which had fallen under the control of Napoleon\u2019s France. Having moved there thanks to the welcome he received from the Palermo nobility, Ferdinand commissioned the architect Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia to renovate the Palazzina. <\/p>\n\n This resulted in the building that can be visited today, which is entirely in Chinese style. The palace is topped with a pagoda roof and has three floors. On the first floor are the reception hall, the dining room, the king\u2019s bedroom, and that of Queen Maria Carolina. There is also a separate building connected by underground passages, which are not open to visitors today, where the kitchens, stables, and servants\u2019 quarters were located. The dining room with its \u201cMathematical Table\u201d is very unusual. The table has four seats and a mechanism that, when activated by the servants, raised the dishes without disturbing the royals. Next to each place setting were three cords, each of which, when pulled, signaled a need to the staff below: water, wine, salt. All the rooms feature Chinese-style frescoes by Sicilian painters. <\/p>\n\n This place between Palermo and the village of Mondello is yet another foreign presence on Sicilian soil. This time, with a little deception\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After experiencing Palermo’s multicultural dimension firsthand through the story of its markets and its Arab-Norman architectural and cultural heritage, today we move on to another example that once again reflects foreign influences, but with a slight \u201ctwist.\u201d We\u2019re talking about… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4498,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-la-voce-di-new-york-fr"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.justsicily.it\/JS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1444-1140x855-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\nThe Royal Oriental Fantasy<\/h4>\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.justsicily.it\/JS\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/IMG_1459-1140x855-1-1024x768.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n