Villa Malfitano, where time stands still

Back in Palermo, we were overcome by a sense of excitement at the prospect of visiting Villa Malfitano – which we’d heard so much about – on the island of Mozia itself, built by Tina and Joseph Whitaker in 1886, at the end of Via Dante. Stepping through the gates of this park – which is certainly smaller than it was originally – means taking an extraordinary and romantic step back in time and allowing oneself to be enveloped by an unspoilt neoclassical atmosphere. The inspiration drawn from the Florentine Villa Favard, situated on the Lungarno Amerigo Vespucci, is also evident in the furnishings. The ornithological museum that Joseph – having developed a love for birds during his hunting expeditions throughout the Mediterranean – had set up in one section of the park no longer exists, but the Ficus magnolioides with their sprawling, endless roots, the rare Dracaena draco from the Canary Islands, the Araucaria rulei and excelsa, and the clusters of pines and palms still stand in all their glory. They can also be admired from the white veranda and from the rooms, some of which are wallpapered with botanical and Pompeian-themed prints: the plants in the summer room are so lifelike that they give the impression of being in a real garden within the walls. The Art Nouveau style that the architect Enzo Basile championed throughout the city, and particularly at Villa Igiea, engages in an artistic dialogue with the objects of Eastern flavour brought home by the Whitakers from their travels to the East, notably a beautiful sledge. The parrot heard inside a large cage, ironically mimicking the sound of police sirens, is, however, very much real, alive and well.