Pluto and Proserpina Hall

The hall, originally Laura della Corgna’s bedroom, is decorated with scenes relating to the myth of Proserpina: Pluto kidnaps Proserpina, Ceres searches for Prosperina, Ceres and Ciane, Ceres and Jupiter, Ceres and Pluto. Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, Proserpina is kidnapped by Pluto, king of the underworld, while she was picking flowers with the nymph Ciane on the shores of Lake Pergusa, near Enna. Transformed into a river in the attempt to rescue her, Ciane nevertheless manages to hold onto Proserpina’s belt. When Ceres comes to look for her daughter, Ciane floats the belt on the water to attract the attention of the goddess.

Through the intercession of Jupiter, her mother finally manages to free her, as long as she spent six months a year with Pluto. In the maternal figure of Ceres, goddess of agriculture and fertility, it is probably meant to celebrate Laura herself who, for having given birth to Diomede, the adoptive  son of Ascanius, guaranteed the continuity of the family dynasty.