A visit to Solunto can be easily combined with one to the Villa Palagonia, one of many large villas in and around Bagheria built in het eighteenth century by Palermo’s patrician class a retreat from the city. Virtually all of these are now in a scandalously poor condition, and even the preserved examples, of which the Villa Palagonia is the most notable, are compromised by their ugly modern surrounding.

In its day, the Palagonia’s exteriors decoration of fantastic stone creatures, gargoyles, and other grotesques was infamous. The decoration was the work of a local nobleman who, according to one story, created the statues as an act of revenge, portraying his wife’s lovers as cruel caricatures. Even today, despite the fact that the 65 of the original 200 statues survive, there is nothing else quite like them anywhere in Sicily.