The Palace of the Badia Vecchia was built in the same period of the Palace Duca di Santo Stefano fourteenth century. Previously designed as a defensive tower to reinforce the walls of the city belt, it later hosted a Badia, or Abbey, where lived Mother Abbess Euphemia, regent of the Kingdom of Sicily since 1355, in the name of her younger brother Frederick IV, The Simple. From this came the name Badia Vecchia. It represented a fine example of fourteenth-century Gothic architecture. In later centuries a strong restoration led to the installation of numerous ornaments: the Ghibelline crenellations, mullioned windows of different styles, and an external staircase give the old building additional elegance. Today it houses a museum with some elements of the Hellenistic era, dating from the fourth century BC, and even pottery and rare glass containers from the Roman period. Do not miss fragments of earthenware jars from the thirteenth century and Renaissance era. Room, b&b, Accomodation www.casacifali.com