In Acireale, there is a museum that waited eighty-five years to open.

Hello everyone, I am the Diocesan Museum of Acireale and today I want to tell you my story.

For some time now, my halls have housed centuries of devotion, culture, and beauty; within me, you will find works that span from the Seventeenth to the Nineteenth Century and include paintings, sacred vestments, liturgical silver, wooden sculptures, and manuscripts of significant importance for the life of the diocesan territory.

My birth dates back to November 13, 2009 when Monsignor Pio Vigo, VIII, bishop of the diocese, officially established my existence with a decree, and I belong to the category of diffused museum.

But my story begins in 1930 when the diocese of Acireale decided to purchase the building that houses me, a noble palace near the curia and the cathedral: the D'Amico Palace. The bishop, Monsignor Salvatore Russo, intended to use the noble floor for me and the other rooms for pastoral activities of the parish and the cathedral.

Unfortunately, the outbreak of the Second World War sank the project, but Paolo Randazzo, the bishop's secretary, thought to collect various works of art and initiate a first museum collection placing it at the City of the Child, a charitable institution founded in those years in Acireale.

My life was in danger. I had already lost hope of becoming a place of culture. But, in 2000, renovation work on the palace began with the aim of making my halls accessible to the public. Furnishings were purchased, and so, finally, in 2015, thanks to a European Union funding, I began to take on my characteristics. Contributions from the CEI allowed for the activation of temporary exhibitions that were very successful.

After passing through the main portal and climbing the monumental staircase illuminated by a large skylight, you will find yourself on the first floor, and among my halls, you can see up close a canvas by Alessandro Vasta, canvases from the workshop of Paolo Vasta, the roundels of Michele Vecchio, but above all, you can admire the magnificence of the sacred vestments made between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth Centuries, in taffeta, damask, gros de Tour.

I have met several bishops over the years and often I have seen them wandering through my halls in search of answers. Today it is Bishop Antonino Raspanti who often comes to visit me. The secretary Don Antonio Agostini, who is also my director, coordinates the scientific and cultural activities and the restoration of the works I hold, and he is always the one who often curates the thematic exhibitions that take place in my halls.

But Palazzo D’Amico does not only host me. On the second floor, you will find my brother the Diocesan Historical Archive, which represents a fundamental resource for preserving the historical memory of the diocese's territory, and among the various funds, my brother collects the sacramental registers of the mother church of Acireale and the parish censuses that provide a detailed picture of families and offer a glimpse into the daily and religious life of the local community.

The historical archive and I gather centuries of history of our diocese and, during the FAI Spring Days, we will open our doors to show you our treasures, and the young apprentice guides will tell you their stories. Don’t miss this opportunity because every room, every single painting, every piece of fabric, every document will have the power to take you on a journey into the past.

IC “Fuccio-La Spina”, Acireale