Every design for Bagheria

At Villa Palagonia, visitors stop at the elaborate outer staircase and the curving façades before going in. It is the most famous of the Baroque villas that gave Bagheria its nickname, the city of villas, built when the nobles of Palermo chose this stretch of land for their country estates.

There is pride here, and a little nostalgia. Goethe came through on the Grand Tour; later the town filled with working families, and new building crowded around the old residences. Yet Villa Cattolica, the fortified Villa San Marco and the Palazzo Villarosa are still there, and the Museo Guttuso keeps the town's artistic name alive. The fishing village of Aspra lies on the coast.

For anyone from Bagheria, home is that mix: grand gates between apartment blocks, and the sea at Aspra at the end of the road.