In 1817, Colonel Francisco José de Carvalhal e Vasconcelos, residing in Faro, acquired an estate at Estoi, named as the Garden.

His primogenitary son, who worked at the time in Cortes of Lisbon, ordered the construction of the present palace in Estoi's gardens around 1840, inspired in Sintra's Palace of Pena. This Palace is the most significative manifestation of Romanticism in the Algarve. The works have been prolonged for several years and were abandoned after the last descendent's death. In 1893, the property was acquired by José Francisco da Silva, who spent serious money on the recovering of the palace and its gardens. He was honoured by King D.Carlos with the title of Viscount of Estoi. In 1909, it was finally inaugurated and it remained in this family's possession until 1987, the year in which it was acquired by Faro's Municipality, Algarve - Portugal !