Casa de Pilatos

If the Alcázar is too crowded or you want to see how Seville's aristocracy lived, the Casa de Pilatos is the answer, and many visitors rank it among their favourite places in the city. Still owned by the ducal house of Medinaceli and administered by its foundation, it is a palace built by the Enríquez de Ribera family from the late fifteenth century and transformed in the sixteenth, and it is one of the most beautiful houses in Spain. Its name comes from a legend. Don Fadrique Enríquez de Ribera, first Marquis of Tarifa, made a long journey through Italy to Jerusalem in 1519, and on his return he established a Way of the Cross through the city that began at his palace; Sevillanos came to believe the house was a copy of Pontius Pilate's home in Jerusalem, and the name stuck. What he did bring back from Italy was a taste for the Renaissance, and the house is a rare and perfect fusion of styles. The main courtyard is the masterpiece: Mudéjar arches with carved plaster, Gothic balustrades, a Genoese marble fountain in the centre and, in the corners, Roman and Greek statues of gods and emperors, including a monumental Athena. The walls of the courtyard and the surrounding rooms are covered in azulejos of the early sixteenth century, in a dazzling variety of geometric and heraldic patterns, said to form the largest collection of their kind in the world. Beyond are chapels and salons with coffered ceilings, a staircase under a gilded wooden dome, and two gardens, the larger with loggias, fountains and climbing bougainvillea, that make you forget the busy streets outside.

The visit is in two parts. The ground floor, with the main courtyard, the Pretorio hall, the chapel, the salons and the gardens, can be seen at your own pace with an audio guide or on a guided tour. The upper floor, still lived in by the family in part, is shown only on short guided tours, with family portraits, furniture, frescoed ceilings and paintings from the ducal collection, and is worth adding if you have time. The Tiqets link offers entry with a live guide in English or Spanish, which brings the house's stories to life. The palace has also served as a film location for international productions over the years, thanks to its courtyards.

Why it is worth the detour: the Casa de Pilatos gives you, in miniature and in relative peace, much of what makes the Alcázar so special — Mudéjar plasterwork, glorious tiles and a hidden garden — with the added layer of the Italian Renaissance, and without the crowds. It is particularly lovely in spring, when the gardens are in bloom, and in the late afternoon, when the light falls into the courtyard. Allow an hour for the ground floor and gardens, and another half-hour for the upper floor tour. Photography without flash is generally allowed on the ground floor.

Getting there: the palace stands on the Plaza de Pilatos, on the eastern edge of the old town, about ten minutes on foot from the Cathedral through the lanes of San Bartolomé and Santa Cruz, or from the Setas de Sevilla. Combine it with the Setas and the Church of El Salvador for an old-town afternoon away from the Cathedral crowds, or with the Palacio de las Dueñas, another aristocratic house further north, for a day of palaces. The neighbouring streets around San Esteban and the Calle Águilas have good, unpretentious bars for a tapa afterwards.