14. Battaglia Palace

The construction of the two-storey palace began in the first decades of the 18th century and reflects the canons of Baroque architecture (Fig. a). The large entrance door, with rusticated jambs, characteristic of the Catania area, bears witness to the presence of a master builder (Fig. b).
The side of the entrance door features two windows with plain frames topped with moulded architraves. The upper floor features three balconies (Fig. c), of which the central one bears a moulded frame with the Battaglia family crest above it (Fig. d).
The rear façade, on Via Chiaramonte, which is the result of the palace’s extension, was built in the mid-1700s. It is characterised by an entrance bordered by moulded jambs supporting an architrave. A curvilinear smooth stone curtain wall contrasts with the façade’s face brickwork and surrounds an elliptical, stone-framed, moulded window (Fig. e). The upper balcony is curved and supported by nine sculpted corbels. Two large windows open onto this balcony, with a curved window in the centre. The space under the roof is lit by three small circular windows, highlighted by stone cornices. This façade results from the genius of master builders, who had learnt the rules of architectural design from the treatises. The different workmanship of the two façades makes this building one of the most original in Ibla. A number of period furnishings have been preserved inside the building (Fig. f).