Utveggio Castle - Grand Hotel Utveggio

The Utveggio Castle is a construction that began in 1928, was completed in 1934 is an imposing Art Nouveau building similar to a neo-Gothic castle with a characteristic pale pink color, located on the promontory of Mount Pellegrino (an integral and characterizing part of the "most beautiful promontory of the world "as Goethe defined Monte Pellegrino in his famous Journey to Italy) at 346 m above sea level, overlooking the city of Palermo.

The building never had a military function, in fact the construction of the building began in 1928, was completed in 1933 and inaugurated the following year.

The project was by the architect Giovan Battista Santangelo, professor of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Palermo, who carried it out at the behest of the knight Michele Utveggio. The knight, who had bought the land from the municipality of Palermo in 1927, financed the entire work, including the connecting road and the water supply system.

The building was then used as a luxury hotel, which was given the name of Grand Hotel Utveggio.

The location was chosen to take advantage of the enviable view of the Gulf of Palermo and the entire city and, at the same time, emulate the Villa Igiea hotel built nearby.

The construction company, owned by the knight Utveggio himself, at the time was one of the most modern and equipped in the region, so much so that it succeeded in the difficult work in just 5 years.

Unfortunately, the entrepreneurial idea was not lucky despite the offer for the time being extremely competitive. After a few seasons in business, the business was already in sharp decline at the beginning of the Second World War; in this period an attempt was made to open a casino there but without success.

The war and the use of the area by the fascist troops initially, and by the allied ones at a later time, decreed the definitive closure of the plant which remained abandoned and vandalized for many years.

Map: Utveggio Castle - Grand Hotel Utveggio