Ernesto Basile

Elegant interpretations of the Liberty and Art Nouveau styles, the buildings of the Palermo architect Ernesto Basile (1857 - 1932), constitute a unique heritage in the urban history of Palermo. From Villa Igiea to Villino Florio, Basile designed in the city some of the greatest residences of the Sicilian upper middle class, structures that draw parallels with the works of some international designers of the time, from Horta to Hoffman, from Mackintosh to Van de Velde. Appointed director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Palermo in 1897, Basile captured the European influences of modernist style, merging them with Sicilian tradition. An approach that is repeated in furnishings and fabrics destined for large clients such as hotels and ships: made in collaboration with Ducrot, the famous Palermo-based company of which Basile became artistic director in 1902, his furniture is the quintessence of what modernity is at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.

Meet the designers

Gio Ponti

Piero Fornasetti

Fratelli Castiglioni

Joe Colombo

Nanda Vigo

Ettore Sottsass

Marco Zanuso

Luigi Caccia Dominioni

Ico Parisi

Charles & Ray Eames

Gae Aulenti

Pietro Chiesa

Vico Magistretti

Giotto Stoppino

Tobia Scarpa

Carlo Nason

Marcello Cuneo

Vittorio Dassi

Paolo Buffa

Max Ingrand

Gastone Rinaldi

Pia Guidetti Crippa

Gaetano Pesce

Richard Sapper

Ingo Maurer

Gabriella Crespi

Paul McCobb

Paul Tuttle

Nendo

Alvaro Siza

Carl Jacob Jucker

Ernesto Basile

Sergio Mazza

Osvaldo Borsani

Oscar Torlasco

Le Corbusier

Willy Rizzo

Gaetano Sciolari

Carlo De Carli

Angelo Lelli

Gino Sarfatti

Marcel Breuer

Carlo Scarpa

Massimo & Lella Vignelli

Claudio Salocchi

Toni Zuccheri

Aldo Tura

Verner Panton

Giancarlo Piretti

Gianfranco Frattini

Guglielmo Ulrich

Franco Albini

Philippe Starck

Angelo Mangiarotti

Enzo Mari

Tito Agnoli

Kazuide Takahama

Eero Saarinen

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Carlo Ratti

Alessandro Mendini

Mario Bellini

Cleto Munari

Carlo Mollino

Bruno Munari

Hans J. Wegner

Studio BBPR

Giovanni Michelucci

Norman Foster