Have you just bought your new home in Sicily and want to decorate it with a perfect Sicilian style? Welcome to this new post dedicated just to the authentic Sicilian home decor.
By the way: though you didn’t buy your home in Sicily, you can decorate any house with a Sicilian or Italian style. Even the home you have in your Country!
What is Sicilian style decoration and how to make your home glamorously Sicilian? Read the full article to find the answers.
History of the Sicilian Style Decoration
The Sicilian style has been strongly influenced by centuries of different cultures and dominations.
The Greeks and Romans, for example, created a magnificent architectural style in Sicily, which you can still today admire in several places, such as in Agrigento, Syracuse, Giardini Naxos, Taormina, Selinunte and Segesta. In each of these places, temples, villas and theaters are the most ancient and living testimony of the history of Sicily.
Another great impulse to an original Sicilian style arrived from the Byzantines and the Arabs. These two civilizations shaped an amazing style of textured tiles and depictions called “arabesque” and mosaics.
The Normans, instead, founded in Sicily the most brilliant architectural artworks. You find these brilliant signs in the churches of Palermo and Cefalù. In Monreale, instead, you can admire the beautiful Byzantine mosaics.
All these architectural styles can give you an initial idea to better decorate your home with a perfect and fashionable Sicilian style.
The Sicilian history and culture have many other style decorations
They all come from the vibrant past of the Island, and from its falls and rises.
After the awful earthquake that in 1693 destroyed half of my island, many villages and monuments were rebuilt with a more modern architectural style: the so-called baroque.
The baroque style is magnificently visible in Noto and Modica, for instance. It is characterized by a decorative exuberance made of rounded and sinuous marble and vivid paintings.
Many Sicilian villas and churches have an architectural baroque style. Every city in my island has brilliant details of this architecture, especially in the high domes of buildings and in the magnificent naves of the churches.
Baroque has always been an iconic style decoration in Sicily. It expresses the language of my birth land and of its people.
However, over the centuries, baroque decorations were considered overly showy and replaced with the more romantic and gentle liberty style, where the main decorative elements were flowers.
For this reason, the liberty style decoration was also called floral style. It is still visible in many Sicilian cities, from Catania to Palermo.
Traditional Sicilian Home Decor
Many decorative ideas come from the deepest and innermost Sicilian tradition and depict all its iconic elements, such as the Sicilian cart, ceramic moor heads, Sicilian lemons, prickly pears.
These decorations are the authentic voice of my beloved island. They tell about the sacrifices of men and women who fought to carry the products of their lands on their poor transportation means and strived to produce exquisite lemons and original ceramics depicting the legends of Sicily.
Sicilian tradition style decoration is also made of the most picturesque and popular Sicilian places, such as Taormina and Etna mount.
Their vivid and vibrant colors ooze from the stunning paintings you can put on the walls of your home to recall your Sicilian roots, or simply, to remember all the warmth of this land. These paintings are printed on wallpaper or on canvas and crafted by true Sicilian artists.
The latter are true wonderful artworks that are waiting to decorate your home.
Sicilian Home Decor Ideas
Home décor ideas are lifeblood for many Sicilian artisans and for the economy of the island. Every day, they craft home furniture (especially chairs), ceramic bowls, paintings, pillows, tiles, wallpapers, with different Sicily’s themes and colors. Each of them contains a sweet piece of the Sicilian tradition, with its joy and brilliant creativity.
These pieces of home decorations should be placed in every home of the world, to always remember the wonders of my beloved island and its long-troubled history.
An history made with many Sicilian scenes and vicissitudes, such as the poor Sicilians who in the past centuries emigrated abroad, especially to the United States, and the courageous women who fought the wrong Sicilian mindset of their fathers, and prepared iconic straw bags used by these same fathers as work tools.
There are the tears and the blood of Sicilians in their creations, especially the ones who decided to remain in this island, where you can experience the magic to visit it every now and then, but where it is very hard living, sometimes.
Just because the Sicilian home decorations contain true emotions, they are absolutely authentic in their appearance and charm.
Whether you have Sicilian roots or not, you deserve to have these pieces of authentic Sicilian decorations in your home.
You can decorate your rooms to your liking with the Sicilian decorations. You have only to choose your favorite item and colors.
Sicilian ceramic tiles and printed wallpapers are perfect to renovate your entire home, paintings, instead, can give a touch of light to your living room, the hallway or bedroom.
In the living room you can literally unleash your creativity with ceramic bowls and trays on the table and colored pillows on the sofa.
Where to Buy Authentic Sicilian Home Decor
You can buy authentic Sicilian home decorations online or in the physical Sicilian shops you find when you visit my island.
There are many artistic shops in my island, from Palermo to Catania. Many of them craft furniture, but others simply resell items by other brands that may not be authentically Sicilian. To avoid the risk to buy not authentic Sicilian furniture, I suggest that you look for Sicilian carpenters when you visit Sicily.
I have a few names:
Domenico Vinciguerra, a Catanese artisan who crafts stunning wooden furniture. His shop is in Catania, at 27 Caduti del Lavoro Street. Book a hotel near this zone, when you come to visit Catania and make a stop in this artisanal shop to order a perfect wooden item or any type of furniture with an original and authentic Sicilian style.
If you are in Palermo, you can visit the shop of Massimiliano Di Maria, this Sicilian carpenter crafts artistic wooden furniture on demand, as well. His shop is in Palermo, at 10 Andrea Anfuso Street. Book a hotel near this zone, when you visit Palermo, and enjoy the authentic beauty of the authentic Sicilian art.
And, at last, but not least, Roberto Caputo, an artist from Barrafranca, in the province of Enna, who crafts stunning decorations with Sicilian motives, such as the chairs you find in the first paragraph of this article.
If you click on his name above, you can buy his creations straight from his online shop.
To buy further authentic Sicilian home decorations, you can also check this web shop.
Above all, the hand painted chairs caught my attention: they depict the style of the Sicilian cart. These items, always made by Roberto Caputo, go regularly sold out, but you can reach the seller and ask him when they come available.
For other items, such as Sicilian paintings, pillows, ceramics, tiles and wallpapers, you can see the link of the aforementioned online shop.
This way, you’ll find your favorite Sicilian home decoration ready to reach your home.
Conclusion
I hope you enjoyed this stunning parade of authentic ideas of Sicilian decorations. The images of this post depict hand painted chairs, paintings of Sicily’s cities and tiles with Sicilian patterns. You can buy these items in the online shop mentioned above. Browse the shop carefully and you’ll find marvelous home decor ideas inspired by the history and tradition of Sicily.
Always above, I also mentioned a couple of talented Sicilian carpenters. They craft wonderful furniture with a Sicilian style. In this case, you may also decor your home with a vintage style or with cabinets that have the winding shapes of the ancient Sicilian villas. The links of the two carpenters (click on their names) show a detailed photogallery of their works.
For the rest, I wish you a good reading and that you may visit my beloved island very soon. Your comments will always be welcome, anyway.
Rosalba Mancuso is a freelance journalist born in Sicily. Passionate about her loved island and with extensive writing experience, Rosalba worked as a contributor to the main Sicily’s newspapers and as a bilingual Italian – English writer. Thanks to her skills, she also founded four websites in English. On Sicilyonweb, Rosalba tells every corner of her beloved Sicily. Furthermore, she writes this blog thanks to your help. Rosalba, in fact, earns a small commission, with no cost for you, when you book your travel or buy products through the affiliate widgets or links you find in her posts.