3. Museums and Masterpieces

phiale aurea di caltavuturo

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The works of art in the museums of the metropolitan area in Palermo by themselves represent a good reason to visit our territory. “Pietra di Palermo”, exhibited at Salinas Museum, a very important bilingual text for the knowledge of the ancient Egiptian history is second only to the Rosetta stone. Also at Salinas Archaeological Museum in Palermo the Bonci- Casuccini Collection is one of the richest and most prestigious collections of Etruscan art in the world. Unmissable at Palazzo Abatellis, “Regional Gallery of Sicily” there are: Annunziata by Antonello da Messina and Triumph of Death. Among the exhibition halls of Mandralisca Museum in Cefalù, two masterpieces, known all over the world, are kept: “Ritratto di Uomo” by Antonello da Messina known also as “The unknown mariner’s smile” after the publication of the novel by Vincenzo Consolo, and “the Vase of Tuna seller” dated 380 B.C. Unique among the masterpieces of the deep past, numerous in our museums, there is the Phiale Aura di Caltavuturo IV-III B.C. exhibited at Antiquarium in Himera. More recent works, also significant, are on display at the Museum “Guttuso” in Villa Cattolica in Bagheria  and at GAM of Palermo. In the latter you can admire monumental format paintings by Sciuti, the famous realist painting “I Carusi” by Onofrio Tomaselli, the landscapes and sights by Leto, Lo Iacono and by many other artists. G. Pitrè Museum in Palermo and Museo d’Aumale can be mentioned among the numerous ethno-antropological Museums in several Districts.