THE ROOM: this elegant eighteenth-century drawing room is symmetrically arranged around a series of white and gold doors, both real and false, decorated with overdoors, with sumptuous nineteenth-century brocades. In a harmonious symphony of colours and fabrics, a floral carpet once covered the pietra pece and white stone floors, which depict idyllic landscapes with Greek temples. The stone and plaster vaulted ceiling is decorated with a fresco on paper, while the walls, now covered with wallpaper with gold inserts, conceal an earlier painted decoration beneath.

TRADITIONS: HOSPITALITY: during receptions, guests were entertained with conversation, music and card games.

COFFEE: the formal ritual of coffee, offered as a gesture of welcome or after meals, was never absent. In aristocratic homes, coffee was a prized drink, served in large cups, known as cìchire or cìcare, now all but disappeared. Coffee and its blends, imported from the old aromaterie [perfumeries], of nineteenth-century Palermo, was a focal point of the drawing room and high-society life. Other drinks were served alongside it, including iced teas flavoured with mint or cloves, or rosolio – a sweet aromatic liqueur made by macerating rose petals or other traditional essences – served in elegant decorative glasses. The drinks were accompanied by brightly coloured dolcetti da riposto: small pastries made from shortcrust or almond paste, filled with orange or mandarin preserves or Sicilian zuccata, and decorated with sugar inspired by the island’s artistic traditions.

GAMES: card games were often played during receptions. In Sicily, games have always had an essential role, not only as a pastime, but as a genuine social ritual: a means of cultural transmission and a way of building relationships in both everyday and formal settings.

MUSIC: music, too, played an important role in elegant drawing-room life. In the nineteenth century, women received their primary education in colleges or boarding schools, where young girls learned French, practised ‘ladylike accomplishments’ such as sewing and embroidery, and were instructed in dance, music and prayer.

AND CUSTOMS: Tuzzidda Monelli wears an elegant afternoon gown from the late Victorian period. The outfit consists of a structured navy-blue jacket with wide lapels and cream lace cuffs. It is richly decorated with beading and trims on its elaborate front fastening. The jacket is paired with a skirt partially covered by a finely worked lace apron, a distinctive feature of day and afternoon gowns from the 1880s.