The palace Badia Vecchia (Old Abbey) was built in the fourteenth century and was originally a tower in defense of the walls of Taormina.
According to some scholars, the building is called Badia because it was an Abbey, where lived Mother Abbess Euphemia, regent since 1355 of the Kingdom of Sicily.
The Badia Vecchia was restored in the fourteenth century, which led to the installation of numerous ornaments. For example you can notice the fine frame that divides the first from the second floor, or the long polychrome inlay obtained with the use of stones of different color (very similar to that of the Palace of the Dukes of S. Stefano).
The Ghibelline battlements, the mullioned windows of different style and the external staircase give to the old building additional elegance.
