Stories

When I first stepped inside Villino Florio, I noticed the strange black wood around the fireplace, and then started seeing it in other parts of the interior. It turned out to be charred wood. The villa was badly damaged by fire in the 1960s and was later restored using surviving drawings by the architect and Florio himself.

Palermo’s old aristocracy openly looked down on the Florios — outsiders, merchants with no title and no great fortune. But when the aristocrats needed money, it was the Florios they turned to, putting up their properties and businesses as collateral or simply selling them.