GHOSTS OF THE BELLE EPOQUE:

Sub-titled 'The History of the Grand Hotel Et Des Palmes, Palermo', here are the rooms and public spaces of the hotel that have witnessed events that have shaped 20th century Sicily, from the suicide of a poet, to political intrigues and a clandestine Mafia meeting. Arthur Miller, Sophia Loren, and Maria Callas were all guests, and when Visconti was filming The Leopard in Sicily, the entire cast - notably Burt Lancaster, Claudia Cardinale and Alain Delon - visited the hotel. Lancaster even dined with a Baron who had made the hotel his home for reasons shrouded in mystery. Less illustrious guests have included the occultist Aleister Crowley, Lucky Luciano and other Mafiosi. Even Giulio Andreotti, the former Italian Prime Minister, who stood trial for complicity on the murder of a journalist and Mafia association in the 1990s, opted for the hotel's Belle Epoque opulence. The hotel truly has a long and venerable history. It started out as a private residence for the Ingham-Whitakers, the Anglo-Sicilian family of Marsala wine fame, before being sold to the hotelier Enrico Ragusa in 1874. Wagner was one of the most eminent early guests, looking for inspiration to finish his last opera, Parsifal. A few days after its completion, a nervous Renoir arrived to paint his portrait. Months later Guy de Maupassant asked to see Wagner's former suite so that he might detect 'a little of his personality'. The novelist and poet Raymond Roussel arrived in the 1930s, but was destined to leave in a coffin. A richly researched 164 page book with colour and other illustrations totalling 15 of this historic hotel.