Tommaso Napoli

He brought to Sicily an understanding of the baroque architecture of the Austrian empire, especially the works of Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, best known for his design of Schönbrunn Palace.

However Napoli's works also have affinities with the architecture of Carlo Fontana and his contemporaries and followers in Rome especially the Accademia di San Luca.

[4] Valguarnera, built around a courtyard with long curving arms that reference both the earlier villas of Palladio and Bernini's Piazza for St. Peter's in Rome.

The piece de resistance of the villa however, is a large terrace and parterre, also designed by Napoli, overlooking the bay and Solunto, this is considered to be the finest view in Sicily.

The Villa Palagonia was a favorite stop for travellers on the Grand Tour like Patrick Brydone, the Comte de Borch, Goethe, and John Soane among many others.

At the now destroyed Convent of the Sette Angeli in Palermo he designed and completed a protected terrace that allowed the cloistered nuns to view the dramatic procession of Santa Rosalia.

Villa Valguarnera , begun in 1712, for Marianna del Bosco (Princess of Cattolica).
Villa Palagonia . " Dei Monstri " a series of sculpture of Grotesques which adorn the parapet of the villa