We visited Évora's "Casas Pintadas"!

At the beginning of the month, the Eugénio de Almeida Foundation opened the doors of Paço de São Miguel and the Garden of the Painted Houses (Casas Pintadas) for a night tour of its fresco paintings, one of the most well-preserved fresco collections in Portugal.

This themed visit, titled "Buona Fresco", showed us how to look at these murals and discover the hidden story behind the paintings. How to see the fresco as well as the narrative it's telling us. Throughout the tour, we also learned a little bit about the history of each building, as well as the story of the Eugénio de Almeida family.

Paço de São Miguel and its frescos with history

Despite the centuries of History accumulated and that kept redefining its identity, thanks to the efforts of the Eugénio de Almeida family, the Paço de São Miguel is still in perfect conditions. The continuous investigation that has beem done in the building to this day has uncovered many of its murals, artefacts, and hints of the families that marked their presence and lived there somewhere along the centuries.

In each room you enter, there is a grand ceiling covered in frescos waiting to be deciphered, filled with its many colors and variety of figures. Anyone who already knows our CICIOSO Flats - João de Deus I is certain to walk in here and find some similarities...

The Garden of the Painted Houses ("Casas Pintadas")

Anyone who is walking the street unaware won't even notice it, but the Garden of the Painted Houses must be one of Évora's best kept secrets... or at least, one of the most well hidden. Attached to the former Palace of the Inquisition of Évora, currently known as the Center of Culture and Art of Évora, this little garden earned its name due to its galery and small chapel fully adorned with frescos.

Just like the Paço de São Miguel, the murals are well preserved and keep being studied not only by members of the Foundation, but also by students of the University of Évora.

Conclusion

With the summer heat, Évora becomes a much more pleasant city to explore by night, and indeed, having this tour by nighttime gave the perfect ambiance to get to know these murals and a little bit more of the history of each building.

Now that autumn is approaching, and with it, much more moderated temperatures, we invite all our guests to have a walk in Évora and find all the wonders the city has to offer. Why not start here?