Di Lorenzo Palace in Gibellina
The Palazzo Di Lorenzo di Gibellina is a museum building which was not created to satisfy a specific exhibition program but to preserve the remains of the facade of the Palazzo Di Lorenzo, which collapsed following the 1968 earthquake.
Following the earthquake, the fragment of the facade is transported to Gibellina Nuova and, according to the project by Francesco Venezia, is reassembled at the interior of a building without a roof, in an open-air courtyard. This choice was made in such a way that the façade can be perceived from a close distance and does not have to confront the scale of the new inhabited center.
The museum appears on the outside as a closed parallelepiped with the exception of a single window open on the long side. Access to the courtyard is via a ramp, enclosed between two walls. The ancient facade of the Di Renzo palace is located within a yellow sandstone wall that alternates smooth bands and bush-hammered bands. The other walls of the courtyard, on the other hand, are in yellow tuff from Trapani in parallel courses.
