The architect Ferdinando Sanfelice died in Naples on the first of April 1748, author of innumerable staircases based on a singular imagination of space, both perceptive and structural. In the last months of 1748, the 5th prince of Cassano, Giuseppe II d’Ayerbe d’Aragona (1729-1784), signed an act «for the formation of the new staircase»1 of the palace. The assonance with the Sanfelician experiment and the more recent considerations elaborated by Alfonso Gambardella on the fundamental contribution given by the Neapolitan architect in tracing, with his architectural interventions, the new directions of the urban development of the city ‘outside the walls’ (referred to in the essay published here), have led him to support the thesis (already proposed in 19942) of the paternity of the project of the ‘new’ and grandiose staircase of Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona to Ferdinando Sanfelice, whose death would have prevented the signing of a notary act which, shortly thereafter, would have started the construction work of the staircase. Thus, the research was aimed at both describing through the design the amazing peculiarities of this singular staircase as well as validating the paternity of the project to the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice, by virtue of the use of a graphic analysis methodology that, by analogy or difference, connects the intimate structure of the Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona staircase to the conceptual models of the various staircases realised by Sanfelice in Naples. With this objective, in 2017 the architectural survey of the staircase.
Il primo di aprile del 1748 muore a Napoli l’architetto Ferdinando Sanfelice, autore in città del progetto di innumerevoli scale fondate su una singolare immaginazione dello spazio, sia percettiva che strutturale. Negli ultimi mesi del 1748, il V principe di Cassano, Giuseppe II d’Ayerbe d’Aragona (1729-1784), firma un atto «per la formazione della nuova scala»1 del palazzo. L’assonanza con la sperimentazione sanfeliciana e le più recenti considerazioni elaborate da Alfonso Gambardella sul fondamentale contributo dato dall’architetto napoletano nel tracciare, con i suoi interventi architettonici, le nuove direttrici dello sviluppo urbano della città ‘fuori le mura’ (di cui al saggio qui pubblicato), lo hanno portato ad avvalorare la tesi (già avanzata nel 19942) della paternità del progetto della ‘nuova’ e grandiosa scala di palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona a Ferdinando Sanfelice, la cui morte avrebbe impedito la firma di un atto notarile che, di lì a poco, disponeva l’avvio dei lavori per la realizzazione della scala. In tal senso, l’operazione di ricerca è stata orientata sia a descrivere tramite il disegno le peculiarità stupefacenti di questa singolare scala, che a convalidare la paternità del progetto all’architetto Ferdinando Sanfelice in virtù del ricorso a una metodologia di analisi grafica che, per analogia o differenza, relazionasse l’intima struttura della scala di palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona ai modelli concettuali delle svariate scale realizzate da Sanfelice a Napoli. Con questo obiettivo nel 2017 è stato attuato il rilievo architettonico.
Disegnare un fuori scala
Ornella Zerlenga
2018
Abstract
The architect Ferdinando Sanfelice died in Naples on the first of April 1748, author of innumerable staircases based on a singular imagination of space, both perceptive and structural. In the last months of 1748, the 5th prince of Cassano, Giuseppe II d’Ayerbe d’Aragona (1729-1784), signed an act «for the formation of the new staircase»1 of the palace. The assonance with the Sanfelician experiment and the more recent considerations elaborated by Alfonso Gambardella on the fundamental contribution given by the Neapolitan architect in tracing, with his architectural interventions, the new directions of the urban development of the city ‘outside the walls’ (referred to in the essay published here), have led him to support the thesis (already proposed in 19942) of the paternity of the project of the ‘new’ and grandiose staircase of Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona to Ferdinando Sanfelice, whose death would have prevented the signing of a notary act which, shortly thereafter, would have started the construction work of the staircase. Thus, the research was aimed at both describing through the design the amazing peculiarities of this singular staircase as well as validating the paternity of the project to the architect Ferdinando Sanfelice, by virtue of the use of a graphic analysis methodology that, by analogy or difference, connects the intimate structure of the Palazzo Cassano Ayerbo d’Aragona staircase to the conceptual models of the various staircases realised by Sanfelice in Naples. With this objective, in 2017 the architectural survey of the staircase.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
