He had every reason to be concerned. Ignazio went on safari in North Africa with fifty of his wedding porters not long after the couple tied the knot. It's possible that one of them took the women's underwear out of his luggage, but Donna Franca found it super mario bros when he got back. You'd think that one of them would have done that. It was just the beginning of a string of questionable decisions. In the well-known portrait of Donna Franca by Giovanni Boldoni, which used to be displayed in the Villa Igiea, the subject is seen donning an extensive strand of pearls. It is said that whenever Ignazio needed to ask for her forgiveness, he would present her with a pearl as a gift. According to what I've gathered, there are 365 of them, one for each day of the year.

Ignazio was portrayed as being wayward, spoiled, impulsive, and easily tempted, while Donna Franca was portrayed as being determined, intelligent, constant, and confident. A picture began to emerge of this golden couple. Donna Franca was aware of what was going on when Ignazio invited the opera singer Lina Cavalieri to sing at the Teatro Massimo. At the time, Lina Cavalieri was widely considered to be the most beautiful woman in the world. During the performance, she employed a rowdy claque to whistle for her while she sat in the royal box and looked imperious. Cavalieri exited the stage on the verge of tears, and the following morning he left Palermo.

The Grand Hotel Villa Igiea served as Donna Franca's platform, and the celebrity guests who stayed there acted as her audience and audience of consolation. The famous Palermo architect Ernesto Basile was responsible for the villa's design, and it was opened to the public in the year 1900. The villa is a masterpiece of Belle Époque modernism, which is a style known as Liberty in Italy, named for the London department store. The Florio family was compelled to sell the property in 1929, but it continued to be run as a hotel all the way through the 20th century. On the other hand, it was only a shadow of its former self. It went through several owners, which resulted in it becoming increasingly worn around the edges. In the end, the possibility of filing for bankruptcy arose, and in 2019, Rocco Forte, a British hotelier with Italian ancestry, paid $29 million to acquire the property through an auction.

The new owner of the old hotel has been a fortunate find for the establishment. Browns in London, the Hotel Astoria in St. Petersburg, and the Hotel de Russie in Rome are just a few of the impressive properties that are part of Forte's extensive portfolio. The redesign was carried out by designers from the London firm of Nicholas Haslam, Philip Vergeylen, and Paolo Moschino. These designers worked closely with designer Olga Polizzi, who is also Forte's sister. Their mission was not to alter the personality of the hotel in any way, but rather to give it a new lease on life. The bedrooms have been enlarged and beautifully reworked to meet modern expectations of a luxury hotel; however, restoration has been the primary focus in the grand public spaces.