Villa Castelnuovo, Neoclassical villa in Piana dei Colli, Palermo, Italy.
Villa Castelnuovo is a historic park in Palermo's Piana dei Colli, founded in the mid-18th century as the Cottone family's summer residence. Its grounds hold several neoclassical buildings, notably the large Gymnasium designed by Antonino Gentile, whose dome Giuseppe Varrica and Francesco Ognibene painted with four mythological-agrarian frescoes. The park also contains a verdure theatre, the Teatro di Verdura, and the Fontana della Musica sculpted by Ignazio Marabitti.
The estate was built in the 18th century as a summer residence for the Cottone family and converted into an agricultural institute in 1819 through an official decree. This transformation marked a shift from private aristocratic use to a public educational facility.
The open-air theatre, the Teatro di Verdura, has hosted summer performances by the Teatro Massimo since 1963, along with concerts by Italian and international artists. The name comes from the greenery (verdura) that surrounds the stage. In September 2020 the park hosted five evenings of the 'A Storia d'a Sicilia Film Festival, opened by Vittoria Alliata di Villafranca.
The park is managed by the IPAB Istituto Principe di Castelnuovo e Villaermosa. The Teatro di Verdura, part of the complex, hosts Teatro Massimo performances and concerts in summer. Part of the land is used by the University of Palermo for greenhouses, and the Circolo del Tennis di Palermo and Club Ippico Siciliano are based on the grounds.
The Fontana della Musica in the grounds was carved by Ignazio Marabitti, one of the leading Sicilian sculptors of the 18th century. It is one of the artworks Gaetano Cottone installed when he laid out the villa as a summer residence in the second half of the 1700s.
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