Tomasso Napoli
Encyclopedia
Biography
Born at PalermoPalermo
Palermo is a city in Southern Italy, the capital of both the autonomous region of Sicily and the Province of Palermo. The city is noted for its history, culture, architecture and gastronomy, playing an important role throughout much of its existence; it is over 2,700 years old...
, he received his training under Andrea Cirrincione as a novitiate in the Convento di San Domenico. His first architectural experience was in the construction of the church of San Domenico designed by Cirrincione. Napoli, the son of silversmith, was fervent member of the Dominican order
Dominican Order
The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic and approved by Pope Honorius III on 22 December 1216 in France...
and published at least two treatise on civil and military architecture. He travelled extensively including stays in Naples, Rome, Vienna, and Ragusa
Dubrovnik
Dubrovnik is a Croatian city on the Adriatic Sea coast, positioned at the terminal end of the Isthmus of Dubrovnik. It is one of the most prominent tourist destinations on the Adriatic, a seaport and the centre of Dubrovnik-Neretva county. Its total population is 42,641...
(modern Dubrovnik). He visited Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on numerous occasions often in service to the Imperial Court. From 1689 to 1700 he was the official architect of the Republic of Ragusa
Republic of Ragusa
The Republic of Ragusa or Republic of Dubrovnik was a maritime republic centered on the city of Dubrovnik in Dalmatia , that existed from 1358 to 1808...
. He assisted in the ongoing reconstruction of that city after the earthquake of 1667. He made significant contributions to the construction of the new Cathedral, altering the plans made by Bufalini, and to the Rector's palace where in 1691-2 he designed the new chapel. He returned to Palermo by 1711 and served as the Military Architect of the City and later as Architect of Royal Patrimony. He brought to Sicily an understanding of the baroque architecture of the Austrian empire, especially the works of Fischer von Erlach. However his works also have affinities with the architecture of Carlo Fontana and his contemporaries and followers in Rome especially the Accademia di San Luca.
Tommaso Maria Napoli is best known for two villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
s in Bagheria
Bagheria
Bagheria is a town and comune in the Province of Palermo in Sicily, Italy.-Etymology:According to some sources, the name Bagheria originates from the Phoenician term Bayharia meaning "land that descends toward the sea." Other sources claim that it derives from the Arabic Bāb al-Gerib, or "windy...
, Sicily
Sicily
Sicily is a region of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Along with the surrounding minor islands, it constitutes an autonomous region of Italy, the Regione Autonoma Siciliana Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially with regard to the arts, music, literature,...
which set him apart from his Sicilian contemporaries. The villas are the Villa Valguarnera begun in 1712 for Marianna del Bosco (Princess of Cattolica), and the Villa Palagonia
Villa Palagonia
The Villa Palagonia is a patrician villa in Bagheria, 15 km from Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy. The villa itself, built from 1715 by the architect Tommaso Napoli with the help of Agatino Daidone, is one of the earliest examples of Sicilian Baroque...
begun in 1715 for Ferdinando Francesco Gravina, Prince of Palagonia.
Valguarnera, built around a courtyard
Courtyard
A court or courtyard is an enclosed area, often a space enclosed by a building that is open to the sky. These areas in inns and public buildings were often the primary meeting places for some purposes, leading to the other meanings of court....
with long curving arms that reference both the earlier villas of Palladio and Bernini's Piazza for St. Peter's in Rome. The three storeyed main facade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
of the villa has a concave bay at its centre, in which is set an external staircase leading to the piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
. The balustraded roof line is adorned by statuary. The piece de resistance of the villa however, is a large terrace
Terrace (gardening)
In gardening, a terrace is an element where a raised flat paved or gravelled section overlooks a prospect. A raised terrace keeps a house dry and provides a transition between the hard materials of the architecture and softer ones of the garden.-History:...
and parterre
Parterre
A parterre is a formal garden construction on a level surface consisting of planting beds, edged in stone or tightly clipped hedging, and gravel paths arranged to form a pleasing, usually symmetrical pattern. Parterres need not have any flowers at all...
, also designed by Napoli, overlooking the bay and Solunto, this is considered to be the finest view in Sicily.
The Villa Palagonia
Villa Palagonia
The Villa Palagonia is a patrician villa in Bagheria, 15 km from Palermo, in Sicily, southern Italy. The villa itself, built from 1715 by the architect Tommaso Napoli with the help of Agatino Daidone, is one of the earliest examples of Sicilian Baroque...
, the larger and more complex of the two, has curved facades of two storeys. The piano nobile
Piano nobile
The piano nobile is the principal floor of a large house, usually built in one of the styles of classical renaissance architecture...
is denoted by large arched windows. The rear facade is a great curve, flanked by two straight wings. The plan is a modified pentagon and so recalls renaissance models like Vignola's Caprarola and other fortified villas. A prominent feature of the villa is the external staircase. Of even more complex design than the stairs in the concave at Valguarnera, a double staircase consisting of straight flights, which repeatedly change direction against the straight and curves of the villa's external walls. It is not clear if either of these staircase designs should be attributed to Napoli as they were constructed in later decades. Similarly, the interior of the villa with polychrome marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
walls and mirrored ceilings was completed long after Napoli's presence. The Villa Palagonia was a favorite stop for travellers on the Grand Tour
Grand Tour
The Grand Tour was the traditional trip of Europe undertaken by mainly upper-class European young men of means. The custom flourished from about 1660 until the advent of large-scale rail transit in the 1840s, and was associated with a standard itinerary. It served as an educational rite of passage...
like Patrick Brydone
Patrick Brydone
Patrick Brydone FRSE FRS FSA FSA was a Scottish traveller and author who served as Comptroller of the Stamp Office.Brydone was born in Coldingham, Berwickshire, where his father Robert Brydon was a Church of Scotland minister....
, the Comte de Borch, Goethe, and John Soane
John Soane
Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...
among many others.
Napoli also designed the piazza in front of the church of San Domenico in Palermo with its column dedicated to the Immacolata. He received imperial support from the court in Vienna for this project. The design for the column was altered after Napoli's death by Giovanni Biagio Amico. At the now destroyed Convent of the Sette Angeli in Palermo he designed and completed a protected terrace that allowed the cloistered nuns to view the dramatic procession of Santa Rosalia.
He published two short treatises: Utriusque Architecturae Compendium... (1688) and Breve ristretto dell'architettura militare... (1723).