Where the epic tales of heinous Moors, glorious paladins and courtly love are told.
From humble, but strong and brave origins, the young Uzeta desperately fell in love with the daughter of Emperor Federico II. His sword was at the service of the emperor and he never faltered. In a mingling of legends, it is told that the area was in dominated by two evil twins, Moors warriors, as heinous as they were skilled in the use of the sword. Both were cruel killers of many brave paladins who tried to stop their ruthlessness. The twins lived at Castel Ursino and it was there that the brave Uzeta battled them after having survived the crocodiles in the mote. Notwithstanding the numerical odds, he won and he liberated the city. Proud of his achievement, he dared to ask the hand of the princess, however he was not of noble origins and the emperor put him in prison in the tower. The town folk rebelled in his defence remembering his courage and his good heart, so the emperor could do nothing else but make him a knight and give him the princess’ hand in marriage. Our art room is dedicated to his legend and to the valour of the paladins. Courageous tales of these times are passed down the generations through the theatre of the Pupi Siciliani (Sicilian marionettes). Reclined and tired we find the traditional iconography of the Pupo of Uzeta and the marionettes of the moor twins and the heads of the defeated paladins.
The iconography of Uzeta is present in the room by the leather and brass headboard (armour), by the weapons above the bed, by the room light in the shape of spikes and by this spears on the wall with whom he fights the crocodiles (made by white ceramic). The Moors represented by the 1969 masterpiece of Gaetano Pesce, the foot: a chair – sculpture ahead of its times, which had the privilege of being shown at the MOCA in Los Angeles. The shower screen in glass and iron echoes Uzeda’s prison from where he received the support of the people who placed the hero’s worn helmet to make a wash basin. In the tumultuous rain shower where the chromatic reflections merge with the original 19th century tiles, it appears that you can still see Uzeta holding the hand of his princess.