Overview
The Mandralisca Museum is located in the heart of Cefalù and houses within its ancient walls the artistic heritage and legacy of Enrico Pirajno, Baron of Mandralisca. It can be regarded as an interdisciplinary museum that includes, in addition to the picture gallery, a valuable archaeological collection, a monetarium, one of the richest malacological collections in Europe, as well as furniture and objects that belonged to the Mandralisca family. The pride of the museum is the famous masterpiece by Antonello da Messina: the magnificent Ritratto d'Uomo ("Portrait of a Man"), an enigmatic painting that, over time, has stimulated the imagination of historians and intellectuals. It is said that Enrico Pirajno discovered it and bought it in Lipari, where it was kept in the workshop of an apothecary. The museum's picture gallery exhibits works from the Cretan-Byzantine, Flemish, Spanish and Sicilian schools.
