'Muse' Palace - Second half of 1500 | |
Among the various hundreds of portals that once upon a time made beautiful extension of theirselves on the facades of the ancient immovable, are remained at about fifty, excluded the ones of the churches. About thirty are placed inside of the more ancient inhabitated nucleus called “Earth district”. Remaining are located in the VII-VIII century quarters named Large Village, or of the Saint Spirit, Celso village, Casalicchio village, village of Sant' Elena, b orgo of Monterrone or Sasso one. Those of the Earth District belong to the 1500's (last twenty years) and to the 1700's (the second half of the century). The Firsts are explained with the moment of maximum caught up economic floridness of the city in the period in which it did not have to depend on any feudal overlord and was a Direction city (1559-1639). The “thirty years war” and the happened feudalism process in the 1600's, were fatal to all the southern cities and therefore also to Ostuni that was considered between the more important cities of all the ex-reign for having had in the course of its history, tenth of collected regi diplomas in the "Red Book" of L. Pepe. The 1500’s residences of the ostunese noble status saved from destruction, constitute an eloquent testimony of a prosperous age never caught up again. In that period the churches and noble houses filled up of art works of remarkable value (such as the canvas of the deposition of Paolo Veronese, arrived in city in 1574 and placed in the church of the Announced one where headed the colony of citizens from Veneto that lived in Ostuni, and to the one of St Cecilia painted by Palma il Giovane and unfortunately stolen in the Sixty’s from the cathedral). The main characteristics of the 1500’s portals are the ashlar works and the very elaborated shapes of the last reinaissance, or mannerism. The used material was so described by Cosimo De Giorgi in "Geological and hydrographical Description of the province of Lecce" (1922): "White compact homogenous limestone . They are found in the hills of Ostuni, Carovigno, Martina, Ceglie and San Vito dei Normanni. They are good for the working, the sculpturing and can be polished like the marble. Exposed to the air and rains,after some years,they lose their marble candor and get covered by lichens, which, carbonating ,give to the stone a blackish colour ,not so pleasant ,into sight, as we can see in the facade of the Dome of Ostuni and | 
Zaccaria Palace - 1777 | in S. Oronzo’s spire in the municipal public square and elsewhere ". In the mentioned areas this limestone it’s named "kind stone" and it’s the material of which the portals of Ostuni and many monuments with an uncovered stone are made of. At 35 via Cattedrale we can see the prospect of the palace made built in the 1575 by Giovanni Battista Siccoda (27), n eapolitan merchant. It presents nowadays three openings but in the beginning, observing piedritti, only the maining one was the portal, while to the sides two wide windows with reliefing frame were placed. The original flight of steps has gone destroyed and this one present false building works. The palace |
| Falgheri palace - Second half of 1500 |
pointed out on the 1500’s public square of the Moor, wide and surrounded by renaissance palaces. On its right there was the church of Ognissanti, made pulled down in 1712 by duca Zevallos with other palaces in order to gain the ground on which building up his own palace. The ducal palace has gone destroyed in 1880 and in that place a neoclassicalpalace with Airoldy family ‘s coat of arms is observed. At 28 via Cattedrale a portal (28)of a destroyed gone settecentesco palace corresponds. At 18 Pietro Sansone small square (already public square of the Moor), we find a 1802’s portal (28) is the classical rococo portal with a lateral ears pattern and an raised and arched frame to contain the coat of arms. It constitutes the last example of rococo sculpture in Ostuni. Excepting for the portal of the St Vito Martire church, along via Cathedral we don’t see other palaces with an ancient portals. At 2 via Bixio Continelli, , we find the portal (29) musical one for the written on the ornament "AMUSE NE INGREDITOR". It get back to the last decades of XVI century and is similar to the hardly visible Lercario portal along the flank of the San Pietro church. The lintel lies on anellate columns while the arc introduces a frame with worked stones in ashlar work style. At civic number 10 we find the classic gallery-portal (30), typical of numerous buildings realized in the second half of XVIII the century. Approaching to St Giacomo church we meet some 1500’s ashlar work portals (31) realized under the pontoon at civic numbers 81 and 84. there are various similar things survived from destructions or manipulations and built in other placed of the city. Leaving on the right side the arc of St Demetrio gate we are walking in via Stefano Trinchera. At 68 Jurleo palace’s portal (32) corresponds built in 1750 from the trabeazione in w rococò style and winged heads instead of the classical capitals supporting the frame. At 74 civic number there’s the Calamus palace’s portal (33) built up in the 1769 by the master builder and sculptor Giuseppe Fasano. In 1790 was realized the other portal (33) correspondent to civic number. The influence of master Fasano is perceptible in a great number of portals and palaces facades. He came from Martina Franca and he moved in Ostuni in 1748, after having married a daughter of the century most famous ostunese master builder , Nicola Antonio Maldarella, who built the construction of the episcopal palace, the seminary, the church of St Vito and the one of saint Francisco, and various city palaces and country houses as well. | |
