The secret of the Sicilian Baroque by Silva Wischeropp

I discovered this urban, crumbling yet picturesque, mysterious, baroque window motif in the early evening of 14 April 2022 during my Easter trip to the Sicilian capital Palermo. The photo was taken with the Nikon D800.

This abandoned façade is part of the former palace building in Piazza Pretoria, a square in Palermo, the capital of Sicily.
It is located in the centre of the old town just south of the Quattro Canti on Via Maqueda and extends eastwards from there. A wide flight of steps leads down from the square to Via Maqueda. The square takes its name from the Palazzo Pretorio, Palermo's former court palace. Piazza Pretoria was laid out in the 16th century to build the Mannerist Fontana Pretoria fountain. Because of the naked statues in this fountain, Piazza Pretoria was popularly known as Piazza della Vergogna (Square of Shame). This derivation is not uncontroversial. Another explanation goes back to the origin of the statues. They were originally built for the park of a castle in Florence. When the owners fell into financial ruin, they sold the statues to a buyer in Palermo. The ensemble was dismantled into over 600 pieces, shipped and rebuilt under the supervision of one of the creator's sons. The Palermitans expressed their indignation at this in the face of hunger and general hardship by christening the square Piazza Vergogna.
Anyone visiting Palermo and strolling through the streets will inevitably pass Piazza Pretoria.

Created by Silva Wischeropp.

This artwork is offered by Silva Wischeropp

Silva Wischeropp was born in the Hanseatic city of Wismar in the former GDR. Today she lives and works in Berlin. As an experienced and passionate travel photographer whose interests span a broad range, she focuses on portraiture, street life, reportage, documentary, travel, tourism, landscape and nature. In addition, she is known for her recordings in the fields of architecture and fashion. Since 2016, her new repertoire includes surreal digital photo collages. For 20 years she has been known in Germany and abroad as a creative photo artist. Her works have been widely published and exhibited. "The photographic image process represents my personal work and creation area. This means dealing with image worlds, politics, human needs and sensitivities. The camera expands my scope to meet that other reality. Photography makes me happy, creates joy, closes boundaries, opens new doors, widens horizons. The camera teaches me to see, to sharpen the view, to capture moments, to perceive fleeting moments that are not visible to others. I am a creative person, a picture-maker, who draws on herself, does not copy a lot and develops her own imagery. So I move between the poles, reach different fixed points, look behind the scenes. Out of the thousandfold existing I manage to bring out something unique, unique moments of the picture."

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