Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sant'Andrea, one of the greatest examples of the form is the cathedral of Monreale, just
outside Palermo.
With the 12th and 13th centuries came the Gothic aesthetic, though the Italians didn't
embrace this style as enthusiastically as the French, Germans and Spanish did. Its flying
buttresses, grotesque gargoyles and over-the-top decorations were just too far from the
classical ideal that was (and still is) bred in Italian bones. This said, the Gothic style did
leave its mark in southern Italy, albeit in the muted version encapsulated by Naples' Ch-
iesa di San Lorenzo Maggiore and Chiesa di San Domenico Maggiore, Palermo's Palazzo
Bellomo and Lucera's cathedral. The south's most striking Gothic icon, however, is
Puglia's Castel del Monte; its Italianate windows, Islamic floor mosaics and Roman tri-
umphal entrance attests to the south's flair for absorbing foreign influence.
Baroque: the Golden Age
Just as Renaissance restraint redefined Italy's north, the wild theatricality of 17th- and
18th-century baroque revamped the south. Encouraging the makeover was the Catholic
Church, for whom baroque's awe-inducing qualities were the perfect weapon against the
Reformation and its less-is-more philosophy. Deploying swirls of frescoes, gilt and poly-
chromatic marble, churches like Naples' Chiesa del Gesù Nuovo and Chiesa di San
Gregorio Armeno turned Catholicism into a no-holds-barred extravaganza.
Inlaid marble would become a dominant special effect, adorning everything from tombs
and altars, to floors and entire chapel walls. The form's undisputed master was Cosimo
Fanzago (1591-1678), an occasionally violent sculptor whose masterpieces include
Naples' Certosa di San Martino's church, a mesmerising kaleidoscope of colours, patterns
and precision.
In Puglia's Salento region,
barocco leccese
(Lecce baroque) saw the style reach ex-
traordinary new heights. Local limestone was carved into lavish decorative detail around
porticoes, windows, balconies and loggias, themselves crowned with human and
zoomorphic figures as well as a riot of gargoyles, flora, fruit, columns and cornices. The
leading exponents of the style were Gabriele Riccardi (1524-82) and Francesco Antonio
Zimbalo (1567-1631), but it was Francesco's grandson Giuseppe Zimbalo (1620-1710),
nicknamed Lo Zingarello (The Little Gypsy), who was its most exuberant disciple.
Among his greatest designs is the upper facade of Lecce's Basilica di Santa Croce.
It would take an earthquake in 1632 to seal Sicily's baroque legacy. Faced with destruc-
tion, ambitious architects set to work rebuilding the towns and cities of the island's south-
