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Palermo Felicissima

2023

Museums and installations

Visitors among multimedia stations beneath a frescoed ceiling at Palazzo Bonocore — Palermo Felicissima.

The first fully interactive exhibition about Belle Époque Palermo, combining advanced technology and immersive installations.

Client
CoopCulture
Location
Palazzo Bonocore
Area
Museums and installations
ODD’s contribution
Research, curation, installation design and content creation
Project outcome
A journey through the Belle Époque with interactive installations, projections and virtual reality.
Museums and installations

Palermo’s Belle Époque

Palermo Felicissima is an interactive, cross-media exhibition that uses engaging visual technology to open up a vast archive of Palermo’s Belle Époque. Visitors can explore the places, events and people that shaped the city’s history and became part of its legend.

A journey back to Palermo during the Belle Époque. The exhibition explores a brief but eventful period that transformed the city and presented it to the world as a dynamic, pioneering place. It is housed at Palazzo Bonocore, in the heart of Palermo’s historic centre.

Visitor wearing headphones in front of a digital portrait of Ignazio Florio Junior — Palermo Felicissima.
Visitor in front of an exhibition display with a map and screens — Palermo Felicissima.
Visitors in front of a projection about Navigazione Generale Italiana — Palermo Felicissima.

THE EXHIBITION

Palermo Felicissima explores four themes: Architecture, Urban Planning, Economy and Society. Tables, interactive books and touchscreens invite visitors to discover the history of Sicily’s Belle Époque, from major changes to its cities and landmark buildings to its economy and social life.

An animated film on a large curved screen tells the story of the Florio family. In an immersive room, 360° projections surround visitors with the refined floral aesthetic of Art Nouveau. Two virtual reality stations offer a walk through a faithfully reconstructed Palermo in 1892, from Teatro Massimo under construction to the now-lost pavilions of the National Exhibition.