PhD Program in Historical studies
The residences in Naples
The first Neapolitan residence was built by the d’Avalos in 1582 at Monte Oliveto, in the old city. Maybe because they preferred their homes in Vasto or, in some periods, in Ischia and Procida, the d’Avalos, at least until the beginning of the eighteenth century, were hardly present in Naples where, above all, were behind operations of buying and selling houses and villas located in various areas of the city. After he had his palace at Monte Oliveto built with great magnificence, in fact, the Marquis d’Avalos gave it to Gaspar Roomer in the seventies of the seventeenth century in exchange for a villa in Barra (now Villa Bisignano), that the d’Avalos maintained until the beginning of the eighteenth century, when it was given to Girolamo Maria Pignatelli as payment of a debt. In the eighteenth century, the palace of Monte Oliveto came back again in the hands of the d’Avalos family and in the thirties of the century, the family moved permanently to Naples.
It is also useful to remember that in 1585 Giovanni, the son of Alfonso, the marquis del Vasto, and Maria of Aragon, nephew of the late King of Naples, Ferdinand I of Aragon, built the hermitage of the Santissimo Salvatore (Most Holy Saviour) in Naples, on the hill of the Camaldoli.
A clear sign of the presence of the d’Avalos in the capital of the kingdom nowadays is the Palazzo d’Avalos del Vasto (photo), a monumental building located in via dei Mille. It was built in the late sixteenth century as a residence of the d’Avalos family, the Marquises of PescaraAn important port and trading center on the Adriatic sea, Pescara was a key coastal fortress of the Kingdom of Naples in the Early Modern period, repeatedly subjected to attacks by pirates and Turks. Since the Aragonese period it was a fief of the d’Avalos family, linked by kinship with the previous feudal lords, the d’Aquino. and Vasto and remodeled in the eighteenth century by the Neapolitan architect Mario GioffredoMario Gioffredo (1718-1785) was an engineer, an architect and an engraver from Naples. During his artistic training he attended Solimena’s workshop, establishing himself on account of his classical style. He was also the author of a treatise on architecture. From 1783 until his death he was the architect of the court. Among his works there was: the Basilica of Spirito Santo and the restoration of Palazzo d’ Avalos del Vasto in Naples and the church of the Maria Santissima del Carmine in Vasto.. The family’s attention to the gardens and greenery is seen in the residence in Vasto: the palace, in fact, was preceded by a lush park full of gardens and orchards, reaching up to the Riviera di Chiaia. The park was eliminated due to the urbanization of via Carducci in the thirties of the last century. The building has three floors, there are two main floors, with rich and opulent salons that still contain furniture, paintings, drawings, and antique furnishings. The baroque façade, designed by the Neapolitan architect Mario Gioffredo, presents a succession of windows and balconies with rounded and triangular pediments, while the entrance is open between four columns that serve as a support for the arch of the portal and the balcony above. The plan of the building is in a “U” shape and the two parallel bodies by the side of the gardens present two portals with two columns and a triangular pediment. Other interventions were carried out in 1840 by the engineer Achille Pulli, who built a gate in order to separate the garden from the street front. Inside, Alessandro Fischetti frescoed halls on the first floor, where they preserved tapestries donated by Charles V and depicting the battle of PaviaFought on 24 February 1525, the Battle of Pavia marked the final defeat of the French king Francis I (who was taken prisoner) in the wars for domination of Italy. The victory of the Habsburg army, on the contrary, confirmed Spanish rule in the Peninsula., of which Fernando Francesco d’Avalos was the great protagonist. These works were donated in 1862 by Francesco d’Avalos to the National Museum and then transferred to the Royal Palace of Capodimonte.