Murder, music and the mafia in Sicily's Grand Hotel.
The Grand Hôtel et des Palmes is an icon of Palermo life. Its rooms and
public spaces have witnessed the events that have shaped twentieth
century Sicily, everything from the suicide of a poet to political
intrigues and a clandestine mafia meeting. This book is a richly
researched history of the historic hotel, with a cast of characters
ranging from the good to the bad and the decidedly ugly.
The hotel has a long and venerable history. It started out as a private
residence for the Ingham-Whitakers, the Anglo-Sicilian family of marsala
wine fame, before being sold to the hotelier Enrico Ragusa in 1874.
Wagner was one of the most eminent early guests, looking for inspiration
to finish his last opera, Parsifal. A few days after its completion, a
nervous Renoir arrived to paint his portrait. Months later came Guy de
Maupassant, who asked to see Wagner's former suite so that he might
detect 'a little of his personality'. The novelist and poet, Raymond
Roussel, arrived in the 1930s, but was destined to leave in a coffin.
Arthur Miller, Sophia Loren and Maria Callas were all guests and when
Visconti was filming The Leopard in Sicily, the entire cast--notably
Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon--visited the hotel.
Lancaster even dined with a Baron who had made the hotel his home for
reasons shrouded in mystery. Less illustrious guests have included the
occultist Aleister Crowley, Lucky Luciano and other mafiosi. Even Giulio
Andreotti, the former Italian Prime Minister, who stood trial for
complicity in the murder of a journalist and mafia association in the
'90s opted for the hotel's Belle Époque opulence.
