Casina Whitaker reopens at Gonzaga Campus

Casina Whitaker: the historic and educational heart of the Gonzaga Campus reopens, housing not only the new offices but also more. New student rooms, new spaces for pastoral activities, a music room, and a gym are planned, as well as the possibility of hosting cultural events.

With the beginning of the new year, the Gonzaga Campus returns to the city one of its most symbolic places: the Whitaker house, also known as Villa Lisetta .

After a major restoration and redevelopment project, the structure is once again a living space for education, culture, and community, fostering continuity between historical memory and a vision for the future.

A historic asset returned to the community

Casina Whitaker is a refined Art Nouveau building located within the grounds of the Gonzaga Institute, in the urban context of Palermo . Originally a rustic cottage owned by the Whitaker family, it was donated to the Jesuit Fathers in 1919, becoming the original nucleus from which the entire Gonzaga Campus developed.

In recent years, thanks also to the collaboration with the Municipality of Palermo, the building has undergone a careful restoration project that has preserved its architectural identity and historical value, making it usable again and fully integrated into the life of the school and the city.

Casina Whitaker as an educational space of the future

Today, Casina Whitaker is not just a renovated building, but a true laboratory for the future. Designed to be enjoyed, particularly in the afternoon, the facility is conceived as a space open to students, capable of accommodating study, networking, and creativity.

Inside the Casina Whitaker at the Gonzaga Campus there is space for:

• new classrooms for individual study and group work;

• spaces dedicated to socialising, meeting and leisure;

• spaces for school pastoral care and training groups;

• a music room and a gym geared towards physical, emotional and relational well-being;

• multipurpose spaces for cultural events and student initiatives, such as the international exhibition Heart of Gaza

A choice that reflects Gonzaga's educational philosophy: putting students at the center, offering them places to inhabit, design, and transform with the support of significant adults.

A place that connects services, people and vision

Casina Whitaker is also the strategic location for the Campus' main connectivity services.

The offices of the General Management, Administration, Secretariat, Communications and Marketing Office, and Civil Service Coordination are located on the first floor .

This reorganization is not only functional, but also symbolic: those who work in these spaces work daily for the benefit of the entire educational community, in a place that unites education, relationships, culture, and spirituality.

Our office opening hours to the public remain as follows:

• Administration: Monday to Friday 8.00am-9.30am and 12.00pm-1.30pm

• Italian and international school secretariat: Monday to Friday 8.00\9.30 and

12.00\13.30.

Memory that generates the future

The reopening of the Casina Whitaker represents much more than an architectural project. It is a cultural and educational gesture that expresses the identity of the Gonzaga Campus: a community that cherishes its roots while also choosing to confidently embrace the future.

A place that does not separate, but connects.

A place that doesn't close, but welcomes.

The structure thus returns to being a shared home, alive and inhabited, at the service of students, families, and the entire city of Palermo.