We had a highly enjoyable visit to this splendid villa up in the Zisa area, with its lavishly painted rooms, interesting collections of paintings and objet d’arts and enormous Moreton Bay fig in the strollable garden. A post on Facebook helped me realise that it was just a few blocks away from our flat, so we combined it with the nearby Villino Florio for a very pleasant morning. Federica met us at the door and gave us a private tour, since we were the only guests there at that particular moment, filling us in entertainingly on the engrossing details of the Ingham and Whitaker families and their lives in Sicily. The only sad thing was that the pretty big library of English books, including a lot of classics from the 20s, like Sax Rohmer and John Buchan, is destined to simply gather dust and remain unopened and unread. (And if you’re up in this area, why not pop into the Mille Luci bakery along the road in Via Lascaris, where the pastries are absolutely yummy!)

Website says they're open on mornings only (Mon-Sat). Went on Monday morning and couldn't get in, as apparently you have to pre-book a tour 24 hours in advance, which isn't mentioned anywhere online. And couldn't go in the gardens either. All in all a shame.