Museo Mandralisca
Museo Mandralisca
4
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Tuesday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Wednesday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Thursday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Friday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Saturday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Sunday
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM
About
Home to the painting Portrait of an Unknown Man by Renaissance master Antonello da Messina.
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4.0
309 reviews
Excellent
136
Very good
99
Average
54
Poor
16
Terrible
4
Sandra B
1 contribution
Apr 2024 • Couples
I would never recommend this museum as it was a very disappointing experience. It contained a mix of random objects such as stuffed animals, dark and depressing paintings, shells and modern sculptures. There was no consistency in the collection and I felt that they just had collections so as to fill the rooms. I expected that the building would have a historical character but this was non existent, except one room behind a rope barricade. The cost of 8euro was excessive and the woman at the entrance was rude and unpleasant. There was no information regarding the history of the museum itself in English except a laminated sheet at the entrance. After purchasing our tickets and returning to the entrance I tried to read this sheet but I was treated poorly and loudly refused. Obviously this ticket seller had my money and no longer had to pretend to have manners. Overall a horrible experience.
Written 16 April 2024
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Elchimera
UK282 contributions
Apr 2019 • Business
This must be the worst museum I have ever visited and I really begrudge the ticket fee. There were no staff around to help the only person available was in the ticket office and even she had to go through her own purse to give me change. The main attraction was on loan to another gallery do I couldn't even see that. There were two other paintings of note and many of the rest were in dire need of cleaning. However, if you are interested in stuffed birds, sea shells or coins this may be just the place for you.
Written 3 April 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Graham T
Camberley, UK257 contributions
Oct 2015 • Couples
This has to qualify as one of the most bizarre museums we have visited. We were drawn to it by a painting of a local worthy whose image appears everywhere in Cefalu. The original is here.
Entrance is 8 Euros. No advice or information was offered at the ticket office. We asked if it was possible to use the museum's Wi-Fi but were told, no!
Opposite is a small room displaying items that could be purchased. We decided to look at this later. This proved to be a mistake!
The items on display are a hotchpotch of old and modern, with little information about any of them. Some have QR codes displayed but without an Internet connection, they are of no practical use.
Every information board except a very few are solely in Italian. The couple that did contain English text referred to pictures that were not actually on display!
There are a lot of items but, without basic information, few will hold you for long. We found we viewed all there was to see in an hour.
It is a shame that so little thought has been put into this attraction. More so that it wasn't until we got back to the shop that we noticed a tiny piece of information on a sign below the Internet terminal that you could ask for a computer tablet to use as a guide around the exhibition! Pity no one bothered to mention that! Too late by then.
Entrance is 8 Euros. No advice or information was offered at the ticket office. We asked if it was possible to use the museum's Wi-Fi but were told, no!
Opposite is a small room displaying items that could be purchased. We decided to look at this later. This proved to be a mistake!
The items on display are a hotchpotch of old and modern, with little information about any of them. Some have QR codes displayed but without an Internet connection, they are of no practical use.
Every information board except a very few are solely in Italian. The couple that did contain English text referred to pictures that were not actually on display!
There are a lot of items but, without basic information, few will hold you for long. We found we viewed all there was to see in an hour.
It is a shame that so little thought has been put into this attraction. More so that it wasn't until we got back to the shop that we noticed a tiny piece of information on a sign below the Internet terminal that you could ask for a computer tablet to use as a guide around the exhibition! Pity no one bothered to mention that! Too late by then.
Written 3 October 2015
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Doug N
Colorado Springs58 contributions
Oct 2014 • Friends
Our first visit to Cefalu was in September 2013. We've been back two times since then because it truly is a gem on the north coast of Sicily. During our third visit we decided to visit the Mandralisca Museum. From the street entrance it appears to be very small. What a surprise after we entered the first room to discover a maze of connecting rooms, some leading up stairs to another collection of rooms filled with items. This museum houses artifacts of interest from several centuries before Christ to nearly the present. I think it is a must see for anyone interested in the historical aspect of Sicily. It is truly a gem of a find.
Written 20 November 2014
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
John B
Denton, TX118 contributions
Oct 2013 • Couples
This was the private collection of a local nobleman and has all the quirky hallmarks of one individual's tastes and meandering interests. In this old family palace (quite austere), there are on display: family crockery, paintings (mostly very dark and difficult to see, stuffed wild animals and birds, ancient artifacts including coins and pottery some exceeding 2500 years in age. If you like offbeat museums this is for you!
Written 7 November 2013
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
ANGELO V
Milan, Italy4,575 contributions
Nov 2022
This is the only museum in Cefalù, and it was started as a private collection by Baron Enrico Pirajno of Mandralisca, who collected numerous art objects by placing them in his home, where they are still found today.
The museum is rather eclectic: you can see here paintings, Greek vases and other archaeological findings, furniture, Egyptian ushabtis, coins, a malacological collection, stuffed animals.
The unmissable works are:
- "Ritratto d'ignoto marinaio" (portrait of an unknown sailor), by Antonello da Messina. The dating is controversial (1465 or 1470-1472), and the person depicted is unknown, perhaps a noble or wealthy fifteenth-century character
- San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist), recently found and restored, attributed to Giovanni Antonio Sogliani from the early 1500s.
- Saints Helena and Constantine, panel by the painter Giovanni Mosco
The museum is rather eclectic: you can see here paintings, Greek vases and other archaeological findings, furniture, Egyptian ushabtis, coins, a malacological collection, stuffed animals.
The unmissable works are:
- "Ritratto d'ignoto marinaio" (portrait of an unknown sailor), by Antonello da Messina. The dating is controversial (1465 or 1470-1472), and the person depicted is unknown, perhaps a noble or wealthy fifteenth-century character
- San Giovanni Battista (St. John the Baptist), recently found and restored, attributed to Giovanni Antonio Sogliani from the early 1500s.
- Saints Helena and Constantine, panel by the painter Giovanni Mosco
Written 5 December 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Christopher C
Gravesend, UK176 contributions
Sept 2019
Found it to be expensive, 8 euros per person. Spent about 45 minutes here, some good paintings and artefacts. Some information plaques in English some not.
Written 26 September 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Devongirlie
Newton Abbot787 contributions
May 2019 • Couples
We paid €6 each and found it uninspiring , we usually enjoy museums but found the experience of dark paintings, coins , stuffed birds and shells not worth the entrance fee . Would hesitate to recommend .
Written 18 May 2019
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
LMS
6 contributions
Dec 2018
This is a three floor museum with paintings, furniture, archeological findings, a shell collection and coins!
it was deserted when we visited, but is well worth the charge to enter. It would have been helpful to have a little more information in English.
The most fascinating to us was the pottery!!!
it was deserted when we visited, but is well worth the charge to enter. It would have been helpful to have a little more information in English.
The most fascinating to us was the pottery!!!
Written 20 December 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Steveage
Rexburg, ID3,140 contributions
Apr 2018 • Solo
This little museum is great, I didn't click 5 stars only because I wish it was just a little bigger and the price is as high as it should go. Many of the paintings were emotionally moving, some from as early as the 15th century. There are urns from antiquity, 3rd and 4th century B.C. and a very interesting collection of coins from ancient civilizations. I paid 6 euros for the hour and a half I took walking around this great, small museum. A really nice stop!
Written 30 July 2018
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
all'interno è possibile fare foto senza flash?
Written 7 August 2020
Hi - inside the museum, did they have written information in English? Or is everything in Italian?
Written 22 January 2018
Hi Amy R,
As I recall from last September, this museum/art gallery is one man's personal collection, as gentlemen in the C19 used to do. The objects displayed are not, as in a modern museum, well described with details of their history and place of origin, rather they are a collection of objects the collector came into possession of.
This is a Sicilian collection, thus most of the paintings are Sicilian. There is a small dark room upstairs where the three most valuable paintings are displayed behind glass, including the smiling man from C15. Rgds Peter B
Written 23 January 2018
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