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Sicilian Baroque
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Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture
that took hold on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of
Italy, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The style is
recognizable not only by its typical Baroque curves and flourishes,
but also by its grinning masks and putti and a particular
flamboyance that has given Sicily a unique architectural identity. The Sicilian Baroque style came to fruition during a major surge of rebuilding following a massive earthquake in 1693. Previously, the Baroque style had been used on the island in a naïve and parochial manner, having evolved from hybrid native architecture rather than being derived from the great Baroque architects of Rome. After the earthquake, local architects, many of them trained in Rome, were given plentiful opportunities to recreate the more sophisticated Baroque architecture that had become popular in mainland Italy; the work of these local architects — and the new genre of architectural engravings that they pioneered — inspired more local architects to follow their lead. Around 1730, Sicilian architects had developed a confidence in their use of the Baroque style. Their particular interpretation led to its evolving further into a personalized and highly localized art form on the island. From the 1780s onwards, the style was gradually replaced by the newly-fashionable neoclassicism. |
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The highly decorative Sicilian Baroque period lasted barely fifty
years, and perfectly reflected the social order of the island at a
time when, nominally ruled by Spain, it was in fact governed by an
extravagant and hedonistic aristocracy. Its Baroque architecture
gives the island an architectural character that has lasted into the
21st century. University of Catania, designed by Vaccarini and completed by 1752, exemplifies typical Sicilian Baroque, with putti supporting the balcony, wrought iron balustrades, decorated rustication and two-tone lava masonry. Baroque architecture is a European phenomenon originating in 17th-century Italy; it is flamboyant and theatrical, and richly ornamented by sculpture and an effect known as chiaroscuro, the strategic use of light and shade on a building created by mass and shadow. The Baroque style in Sicily was largely confined to buildings erected by the church, and palazzi built as private residences for the Sicilian aristocracy. The earliest examples of this style in Sicily lacked individuality and were typically heavy-handed pastiches of buildings seen by Sicilian visitors to Rome, Florence, and Naples. However, even at this early stage, provincial architects had begun to incorporate certain vernacular features of Sicily's older architecture. By the middle of the 18th century, when Sicily's Baroque architecture was noticeably different from that of the mainland, it typically included at least two or three of the following features, coupled with a unique freedom of design that is more difficult to characterise in words. Grotesque masksGrotesque masks and putti, often supporting balconies or decorating various bands of the entablature of a building; these grinning or glaring faces are a relic of Sicilian architecture from before the mid-17th century.BalconiesBalconies, often complemented by intricate wrought iron balustrades after 1633, and by plainer balustrades before that date.External staircasesExternal staircases. Most villas and palazzi were designed for formal entrance by a carriage through an archway in the street façade, leading to a courtyard within. An intricate double staircase would lead from the courtyard to the piano nobile. This would be the palazzo's principal entrance to the first-floor reception rooms; the symmetrical flights of steps would turn inwards and outwards as many as four times. Owing to the topography of their elevated sites it was often necessary to approach churches by many steps; these steps were often transformed into long straight marble staircases, in themselves decorative architectural features, in the manner of the Spanish Steps in Rome.Canted, concave, or convex façadesCanted, concave, or convex façades. Occasionally in a villa or palazzo, an external staircase would be fitted into the recess created by the curve.The Sicilian belfryThe Sicilian belfry, which was not placed beside the church in a campanile tower as is common in Italy, but on the façade itself, often surmounting the central pediment, with one or more bells clearly displayed beneath its own arch, such as at Catania's Collegiata. In a large church with many bells this usually resulted in an intricately sculpted and decorated arcade at the highest point of the principal façade. These belfries are among the most enduring and characteristic features of Sicilian Baroque architecture.Church interiorsChurch interiors with a profusion of inlaid colored marble set into both floor and walls. This particular form of intrinsic developed in Sicily from the 17th century.ColumnsColumns that are often deployed singularly, supporting plain arches and thus displaying the influence of the earlier and much plainer Norman period . Columns are rarely encountered, as elsewhere in Europe, in clustered groups acting as piers, especially in examples of early Sicilian Baroque.Decorated rusticationDecorated rustication. Sebastiano Serlio had decorated the blocks of ashlar in his rustication; by the end of the 16th century, Sicilian architects were ornamenting the blocks with carvings of leaves, fish-scales, and even sweets and shells; shells were later to become among the most prevalent ornamental symbols of Baroque design. Sometimes the rustication would be used for pillars rather than walls, a reversal of expectations and almost an architectural joke.The local volcanic lava stoneThe local volcanic lava stone that was used in the construction of many Sicilian Baroque buildings, because this was the most readily available. Shades of black or grey were used to create contrasting decorative effects, accentuating the Baroque love of light and shade.The architectural influence of the ruling SpanishThe architectural influence of the ruling Spanish, although this was a milder influence than that of the Normans. The Spanish style, a more restrained version of French renaissance architecture, is particularly evident in eastern Sicily, where — owing to minor insurrections — the Spanish maintained a stronger military presence. Messina's monumental Porta Grazia, erected in 1680 as the entrance to a Spanish citadel, would not be out of place in any of the towns and citadels built by the Spanish in their colonies elsewhere. The style of this arched city gate, with its ornate moldings and scrolls, was widely copied all over Catania immediately following the quake.It must be remembered that all of these characteristics never occur together in the same building. Other Baroque characteristics, such as broken pediments over windows, the excessive use of statuary and curved topped windows and doors are all emblematic of baroque architecture, but can all be found on Baroque building all over Europe. |
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