Palazzo Badia Vecchia

The Badia Vecchia (Old Abbey) owes its name to Princess Constance of Aragon, regent of the Kingdom of Sicily on behalf of his younger brother, and then Mother Abbess (from which the name “abbey” given to the building).

The building, a fourteenth century tower, was part of the town’s defensive walls. Restored and modified several times over the centuries, the building has mullioned windows with pointed arches, decorations in lava and white stone of Siracusa and its top is crowned with dovetailed battlements.

House of the Archaeological Museum of Taormina, it hosts archaeological finds from the Hellenistic and Roman periods, some of which were found during the excavations carried out at the end of the twentieth century.

Amphorae, anchors, telamons, marble statues are just some of the magnificent finds that the Abbey exhibits, many are, in fact, also works and decorations from houses and other places of Taormina.