PhD Program in Historical studies
The Apulian domains: Conversano
The county of Conversano – which included the towns of Castellana, Casamassima and Castiglione, Noci and Turi – passed to the Acquaviva of Atri, through the dowry of Caterina Orsini del Balzo, Giovanni Antonio’s daughter who married Giulio Antonio Acquaviva in 1455. Conversano soon became one of the most important places through which the Acquaviva’s power was transmitted, who, from the second half of the sixteenth century, preferred to alternate between their Neapolitan and Apulian residences, only appearing increasing rarely in Atri. The castle became their favorite residence.
The castle of Conversano is located on the highest point of the hill on which the town was built, in a position able to dominate the entire surrounding area to the sea, and borders the ancient square of the court, a large irregular shaped square which was always the hub of city life. The castle was the residence of the Counts of Conversano for almost seven centuries since the Norman invasion. A square tower from the original core of Norman days still exists, along with a fresco on the vault of the original entrance, depicting Saints Cosmas and Damian. The second tower, similar to the main tower but of a smaller size, was built on the south-east side of the castle in the late thirteenth and early fourteenth century. On its walls you can admire the beautiful Gothic windows and a terrace on the lookout which is embellished with arches. The Acquaviva profoundly altered the original features, transforming the ancient fortress into a princely residence. Around 1480 Giulio Antonio Acquaviva had the cylindrical tower built, which has now become a symbol of Conversano, replacing one of the four square towers of the castle. Beyond the defensive structures, the Acquaviva castle was organized as a large house, where there were are also areas intended for receiving guests: the castle had large halls, where the counts received their guests, bedrooms, a wardrobe, a kitchen, chapel and gallery. Inside the tunnel the Acquaviva had collected a great and rich artistic patrimony: all kinds of furniture, wall coverings and tapestries, embroideries and fabrics, silverware, ornaments and crystal ware. Above all, they had “collected” a staggering number of artistic objects and precious statues, sculptures, paintings. Already in the sixteenth century, the gallery took on the form of a “picture gallery” with many paintings in a Mannerist style, above all of religious themes, which displayed the vitality, refinement of taste, and power of the Counts of Conversano. In the seventeenth century that unique collection of paintings was enriched with works of profane subjects, which better served to decorate and the ostentation sought in the rooms used for receiving guests. Compositions and themes of an archaic nature were followed by paintings in a naturalistic style, following the renewal dictated by Caravaggio. An inventory of 1666 lists a series of paintings distributed between the various rooms, the chapel and the gallery, including large and small paintings which constitute a “series” (the Apostles, Kings and Emperors, Tasso’s Historie) and others associated with their genres (landscapes and views, biblical scenes, saints and Madonnas, etc.). In all there were about five hundred paintings!
The building increasingly lost the characteristics of manor house and was transformed into an elegant dwelling of the powerful family. Between 1550 and 1720 important “modernization” work was carried out. The intervention promoted by Giovanni Girolamo II called “Guercio di Apulia“, a rather controversial figure, was particularly important. He was a great patron who commissioned magnificent frescoes in the bridal chamber to Paolo FinoglioPaolo Domenico Finoglio, or Finoglia (1590-1645) was a Neapolitan painter. His most famous works are preserved in the capitular room of the Charterhouse of San Martino in Naples, and in Conversano, a fief of the powerful family of the Acquaviva., together with his wife Isabella Filomarino. Finoglio was summoned from Naples to Conversano around 1634. In the reception halls, illuminated by large windows, Giovanni organized the pictorial cycle based on the Jerusalem Delivered, which was also Finoglio’s. The redevelopment of art and architecture of the castle was accompanied by a project aimed at the urban and artistic revival of the city: important masters came to work on churches and monasteries, mostly sustained by the resources of the county, but also financed the participation of urban nobility and the community as a whole. The city was transformed, according to the taste and artistic orientations of the Baroque era. As is written on the portal, at the request of the Countess Dorotea Acquaviva, in 1710 the castle underwent further renovations and, in particular, the original drawbridge, next to the polygonal tower, was eliminated which had been used to cover the surrounding moat.