Palace Bertini

Palace Bertini, located along Corso Italia in Ragusa, is one of the most emblematic examples of 18th-century civil Baroque architecture in Sicily. Built for a local noble family, the building is distinguished by its elegant limestone façade, embellished with wrought-iron balconies supported by three famous sculpted corbels depicting grotesque masks known as “the three masks of human comedy”: the nobleman, the bourgeois and the commoner. These caricatured faces represent social satire and are considered among the most striking Baroque decorations in the city. Inside are frescoed ceilings, stucco work and decorations that reflect the refined taste of the Ragusa aristocracy of the time. Today, the palace is a cultural and artistic landmark in the historic centre, bearing witness to Ragusa’s historical, social and architectural richness. Visiting it, one fully grasps the theatrical and symbolic spirit of the Hyblean Baroque.