Domenico Fontana a Napoli 1592-1607: le opere per la committenza vicereale spagnola

Abstract

Following the death of Pope Sisto V in 1592, Domenico Fontana is appointed by the count of Miranda, also viceré of Naples, to clear the country side in the north of Naples and, in 1953 he is formally appointed as the regal engineer. Fontana is then consulted to realize a channel to drain the waters from the Samo river through the city of Torre Annunziata. The next viceré, count d Olivares, hires Fontana to realize new and important streets such as Olivares street, connecting the large wharf to the little one, and Gusmana street, from the bastion of the Alcalá to the Armery. Furthermore, he created Largo di Castello and Largo delle Pigne and designed the new sea port, a project however that was never brought to completion. Fontana realized two mortuary altars for Philip II (1599) and viceré Lemos (1601). lndeed is on behalf of viceré Lemos that Fontana realizes his architectural masterpiece, the new Royal palace. Fontana dies in Naples on June 28th 1607 in his home in Nardones street near the royal palace. He left to his heirs (his wife 1sabella and the son Sebastiano, Giulio Cesare, Costanzo, Filippo, Olimpia, Felice e Flavia) a large inheritance both in terms of liquid assets and real estates as it was inferred from the holographic will kept in the State Archives of Naples (refer to the appendix).