Casa Cuseni, Arts and crafts museum in Taormina, Italy
Casa Cuseni is a museum in Taormina housed in a former private residence built on a hillside with views toward Mount Etna and the coast below. The house contains art collections, period furnishings from the early 1900s, and surrounding gardens planted with African specimens, English roses, and local citrus varieties.
Robert Hawthorn Kitson, heir to a wealthy British locomotive manufacturing fortune, constructed the residence between 1900 and 1905 as a winter home in Sicily. The property was developed as a center for art collecting during his ownership and later preserved as a cultural institution.
The dining room displays the final remaining interior design by Sir Frank Brangwyn, a respected Royal Academy artist, featuring intricate wood carvings and hand-painted ceiling panels. These spaces reflect the artistic tastes of the early 20th century wealthy collectors who inhabited the house.
Visiting requires advance booking as the property is open only for guided group tours conducted in different languages at scheduled times. The site sits on a hillside within Taormina's old town, so comfortable walking shoes and readiness for stairs and uneven paths are necessary.
The gardens contain a theosophical park section with structures such as the Temple of King Solomon and a large Menorah, reflecting various philosophical and spiritual movements of the 20th century. This unusual collection of structures reveals the esoteric interests of the former owner and his contemporaries.
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