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Ferdinando Sanfelice: —the Palazzo Serra di Cassano —the Palazzo dello Spagnuolo
His Palazzo Serra di
Cassano is west of and behind Piazza Plebiscito
on via Monte di Dio, the road leading up to
the height of Pizzofalcone (aka Mt.
Echia). The building is from the first half of
the 1700s and to this day represents the finest in the
tradition of Neapolitan urban architecture. The
building is vast, originally having entrances on two
different streets; the one that used to open onto via
Egiziaca facing the Royal
Palace was closed many years ago, however, in
1799 when the owner closed it to protest the execution
of his son, who had been involved in revolutionary
activities of the day—that is, he had been a supporter
of the short-lived Neapolitan
Republic. The father said the door would remain
closed until the ideals for which his son died were
realized. It is still closed. (It was opened briefly
in 1999 on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of
that revolution.) The dual portals of the
entrance on via Monte di Dio open onto twin
curved stairways (photo, above) leading up over an
octagonal courtyard. The elegance of the decoration,
chandeliers, inlaid marble, etc. make the Palazzo
Serra di Cassano a paragon of regal Bourbon
residences. Today it houses the Italian
Institute for Philosophical Studies.
Palazzo dello Spagnuolo
 Sanfelice's
best-known building in Naples is the Palazzo dello Spagnuolo
(lit. "of the Spaniard"). It is in the Vergini
section of the city, adjacent to the Sanità,
in back of the National
Archaeological Museum.The building goes back to 1738 when Marquis Nicola Moscati di Poppano contracted to have two pre-existing buildings rebuilt into a single structure. Published literature on the building says that the original contractors were Francesco Attanasio and and Felice Polito. Sanfelice's name is nowhere to be found. We assume he "helped" because he was building his own family dwelling two blocks away at roughly the same time, and the two buildings are identical in many respects, especially the striking and elegant double flights of stairs, known as a "hawk-winged" staircase. The front courtyard with its lunettes, ornamental panels over the doors on all four stories, and busts framed by volutes and floral elements—all so typical of the Neapolitan Baroque—has been recently restored (photo, below).The stairways are not steep, and the individual steps, themselves, are not high; this was done, believe it or not, to make it easier for horses! Centuries before Elisha Otis made it easy for us, cavaliers just in from a night on the town could trot through the front portal and right up to their nightly repose in the upper stories before having to dismount. The horses were trained to move back down the other staircase and into the stables! [update on restoration Jan 2009]  The
name "dello Spagnuolo" comes from the fact that
the building changed hands a number of times; in 1813 it
became the property of Spanish nobility and simply
acquired the nickname. There followed scandals over the
shoddy maintenance of the building in the 19th century.
The "Spaniard" was finally declared a national monument
in 1925. The most recent restoration looks fine.The building is so choreographic that it has attracted filmmakers for location scenes, most notably in Processo alla città (A City Stands Trial), dir. Luigi Zampa (1953) and Giudizio universale (Judgment Day), dir. Vittorio de Sica (1961). Indeed, Roberto De Simone, the director of the Naples conservatory, once used the courtyard as a back drop for his folk musical, La Gatta Cenerentola [The Cat, Cinderella]. The building is now also set to house the Totò Museum, which will showcase the life of Italy's most famous film comic and native of the Vergini quarter. Sanfelice's own home, nearby, is unfortunately, in a total state of disrepair. It seems to me to be identical to the Palazzo Spagnuolo, even down to the double courtyard (seen in the above photo, right, past the stairs) except that in this case, the passage-way is gated off. I have been told that, architecturally, it is in some respects even more interesting than the Palazzo Spagnuolo. to portal for architecture and urban planning main index |
