A palace at the site first belonged to Giuseppe Lanza, duca di Camastra, who sold it to the duca di San Donato, who then sold it circa 1724 to Domenico Rosso, 3rd Prince di Cerami. Due to the devastation of the 1693 earthquake, the villa we see likely dates mainly to the reconstruction pursued by the architect Giovanni Battista Vaccarini. Vaccarini also likely designed the entrance portico and the monumental entrance staircase. The son of Domenico Rosso, 4th prince of Cerami, took possession of the house from 1735 to 1768; he was a close friend of the Catanian polymath and antiquarian, Ignazio Paternò Castello, prince of Biscari. It is recorded in a history of Catania, that Domenico gave food to many families and orphans during the famine of 1763.