Who we are

Masseria Pernice, a historic home of the Sallier de La Tour family, originates in the Monreale area, in the Jato Valley, among green hills and vineyards.

Twenty years ago, the owners, Domitilla and Filiberto Sallier de La Tour, decided to renovate it by making it an accommodation facility according to the concept of maison d’hôte, or sharing one’s home with guests.
The apartments overlook the inner courtyard in perfect Sicilian style, which retains the characteristic cobblestones and is carpeted with bougainvilleas, jasmine, roses and climbing geraniums.

The living room and the four apartments, which were once the granary and the rooms of the farmers who arrived for the grape harvest, have been furnished with family antiques, Sicilian ceramics and period prints.
La Masseria has kept intact the atmosphere, flavors, suggestions and traditions of the past and is nestled in a beautiful garden with the backdrop of a hillside of pine and eucalyptus trees.

OUR HISTORY

The Pernice fief, in the heart of the Jato valley, was part of the territories originally in the possession of the Jesuit corps, acquired in the 19th century, as thanks for its services to Queen Maria Carolina, by Giuseppe Beccadelli of Bologna and Gravina, Marquis of Sambuca and II Prince of Camporeale, as well as founder of the neighboring town of San Giuseppe Jato, named after the saint whose name it bore.

The attribution of the role of “masseria” takes place several years later by the 10th Prince of Camporeale, Pietro Paolo Beccadelli, who , with a great desire for agricultural renewal of the territory, transforms the farm, originally cultivated almost entirely with sumac, into a wine estate , in the heart of which he builds the winery “La Monaca.”

The cultivated area given its size required large amounts of labor, which is why the now uninhabited fief of Pernice was modernized and made capable of housing workers , masters and all the agricultural work material, known precisely by the name of “masserizie,” of which the masseria was originally the storage facility.

The structure of the Main House and the rooms in the surrounding courtyard remained virtually unchanged until the mid-20th century : The upper floor was used as family quarters, the lower floor as stables, in one part, and as accommodation for workers away for the annual grape harvest, in the other ; later modernized by Peter Paul Sallier de La Tour.

The actual transformation into a private house, and many years later into accommodation, is due to the current owners and hosts, Domitilla and Filiberto Sallier de La Tour, 13th Prince of Camporeale.
Domitilla and Filiberto, who moved to the old feud as soon as they were married, created from the stables that occupied the second floor the living room, dining room and kitchen of their house, and in the turn of the 1900s, driven by the desire to expand the hospitable capacity of Pernice, the current B and B, obtaining from the old barn of the farm the main hall, and from the farmers’ quarters and tool sheds the 4 apartments, intended to receive guests from all over the world : The hunting lodge, the duck lodge, the feather lodge and the flower lodge.