Palazzo Sales
Historic educational centre and conference venue in Erice.
Palazzo Sales is an educational and conference centre in Erice, occupying the former Santa Teresa monastery and now home to specialist hospitality-training facilities.
Key facts
Site type:
Comune:
Palazzo, Conference Hall
Erice
District:
Historic centre
Palazzo Sales occupies the former Monastery of Santa Teresa, a large complex whose history began as the residence of the Badalucco family. In 1671, Tommaso and Maria Badalucco established a monastery within the family palace, and the first community of Discalced Carmelite nuns entered in 1701. Following the suppression of religious houses, the property passed to the Municipality of Erice in 1866.
During the 20th century the former monastery acquired a new educational role as the Convitto Sales, a municipal boarding school associated with the Vittorio Emanuele III State Gymnasium. At its height in the early 1930s, the institution attracted pupils from across western Sicily. Its importance declined after the Second World War as secondary education became more widely available elsewhere.
Palazzo Sales has since returned to educational use. Part of the complex is occupied by the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio, which operates specialist facilities for hospitality and culinary training. The Municipality of Erice also uses Palazzo Sales as a conference and cultural venue, with spaces available for meetings, congresses, exhibitions, performances and other public activities.
Its changing functions — private residence, monastery, boarding school and contemporary educational centre — reflect more than three centuries of institutional life within the same complex.
Photo: Elymian Atlas
Explore further
Palazzo Sales has repeatedly adapted to changing educational and civic needs. Its history as the Convitto Sales and its present role in hospitality education reveal two distinct periods in which the former monastery has brought students to the historic centre of Erice.
The Convitto Sales
After the former Santa Teresa monastery passed into municipal ownership, the complex was eventually adapted for educational use. During the early 20th century it became the Convitto Sales, providing boarding accommodation for pupils attending the Vittorio Emanuele III State Gymnasium.
The gymnasium had been established in 1900 through the initiative of Nunzio Nasi, then Minister of Public Education. By the early 1930s, the Convitto Sales had developed into a prestigious municipal institution attracting pupils from prosperous families across western Sicily.
Its decline followed the changing geography of post-war education. As secondary schools became established more widely across Sicily, fewer pupils needed to leave their home towns to study in Erice. The resulting fall in student numbers eventually led to the closure of the Convitto.
Officucina and hospitality education
A new phase in the educational life of Palazzo Sales began when part of the complex was assigned to the Istituto di Istruzione Superiore Ignazio e Vincenzo Florio. The institute opened facilities in Palazzo Sales in 2016, extending its hospitality and catering education into Erice's historic centre.
In 2019 it inaugurated Officucina, a specialist food-innovation and training facility developed with European Regional Development Fund support. Equipped with professional teaching kitchens and demonstration facilities, it is designed for culinary education while also supporting public events centred on food and hospitality.
The institute's presence in the historic centre extends beyond Palazzo Sales. Student accommodation is provided in the former San Carlo complex and, since 2022, in the restored Grand Hotel Igea, creating a small network of historic buildings adapted to support the school's activities in Erice.
Conferences and public events
Alongside its educational role, Palazzo Sales functions as one of Erice's municipal venues for conferences and public events. The Comune makes its conference hall and ancillary rooms available for educational, social, cultural and civic activities, including meetings, congresses, conferences, exhibitions and performances.
This contemporary use continues the building's long institutional history while giving the former monastery a role extending beyond the activities of the hospitality school.
Sources & further reading
These sources document the history of Palazzo Sales from its origins as the Badalucco family residence and Monastery of Santa Teresa to the Convitto Sales and its present educational, conference and cultural uses.