TONICA & FRIENDS

Settled after 1768 by Gaetano Cottone and Morso, who made it a field for experimental cultivation, followed in his work by his son Carlo, who built the pavilions of the Institute for Agricultural Sciences in 1819. The main building is the neoclassical Gymnasium, the work of Antonio Gentile, with pure and essential lines, rectangular in shape, crossed by a portico with eight Doric columns at the centre of which is a dome with frescoes by Michele Varrica, which can be reached from the long cypress-lined avenue that starts from the 18th-century entrance with pillars and stucco statues representing the allegories of Abundance and Agriculture. The park has an entrance on viale del Fante with sturdy, squat pillars and includes Italian-style gardens adorned with fountains and statues; among these is the Music group, the work of Ignazio Marabitti from 1777. In the garden is the Verdura Theatre, used for the summer season of Teatro Massimo performances.