Description
Historic Villa - Licata – Sicily.
Coldwell Banker is pleased to present "Villa Urso", a monument to the historicity of nineteenth-century Italian
architecture. Sicily, an island crowned by several international newspapers as the "most beautiful pearl of the Mediterranean" and queen of tourism in the world, hosts and is embellished with a unique building which in Licata in 1907 became be part of the "Liberty Style Park" . Cavalier Urso, in that period, commissioned for the renovation process, one of the most famous architects of the time, Ernesto Basile, from the Royal Application School for Engineers and Architects of Palermo. To be aware of the level of his design ideas or revisiting interventions, it is sufficient to mention the new wing of Montecitorio, Chamber of Deputies (Italian Parliament, Rome), the Massimo Theater in Palermo, Bruno di Belmonte Palace, San Giorgio Palace in Reggio Calabria, “Le Teatre' Municipal” in Tunis and the Universal Exhibition in Milan. Villa Urso, built on a ground of approximately 6500 m2, stands for approximately 950 m2, on 4 levels at a height mirroring the church of Monserrato, enjoys an enchanting view of the sea or rather of the coast of Licata in the province of Agrigento, on the large plain closed to North and the lovely surrounding hills. Master "Basile", with the floral wrought iron entrance gate, immediately shows the imprint and themes of the Liberty Style to continue with the residential structure, a clear return to the past of the ancient Tuscan buildings and high qualification in the details, characterized
by the contrasts of textures and colors highlighted by the use of stone.
The design idea was aimed to expand the existing Villa, creating a central tower with one of the pillars with the building body detaching from the wall assembly, interrupting the line drawn upwards towards the sky. To the west, the colonnaded loggia, connected by a corner staircase in the southern elevation, lead to the entrance that introduces us to the villa which is over 21.5 cadastral rooms (A7) and approximately 150 sqm cadrastal (C2). The planimetric system is based on the quadripartite one, which is repeated on all floors; on the intermediate floors almost all the rooms have decorated vaulted ceilings, where the floral motifs change relatively to the intended use of the areas. The tower, the main access, has distributive functions of the building complex by hosting the ring-shaped staircase and connecting the 4 floors. In the internal room of the loggia (Noble Hall) there is a coffered roof which recalls the seventeenth - eighteenth century ceilings also found in the Carmine convent and the Mother Church. The four rooms in the basement were used as warehouses, a carriage shelter and a play room. The mezzanine floor and the first floor which constitute the living and sleeping areas of the house are further connected via a service barrel staircase made of solid wood in which vaults and frescoes continue to
