Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
THE NOT-SO-BRILLIANT LIFE OF COSIMO FANZAGO
Like many stars of the Neapolitan baroque, Cosimo Fanzago (1591-1678) was not actually Neapolitan
by birth. Born in small town Clusone in northern Italy, the budding sculptor-decorator-architect ven-
tured to Naples at the tender age of 17 and quickly earned a reputation for his imaginative way with
marble. Alas, it wasn't the only reputation he incurred. According to legal documents, Fanzago was
partial to the odd violent outburst, attacking his mason Nicola Botti in 1628 and reputedly knocking
him off completely two years later. His alleged involvement in the 1647 Masaniello revolt saw him
flee to Rome for a decade to avoid the death sentence on his head.
Yet Fanzago's ultimate downfall would come from his notorious workplace practices, which in-
cluded missing deadlines, disregarding clients' wishes, and using works created for one client for com-
pleting other clients' projects. Responsible for giving him his enviable commissions at the Certosa di
San Martino, the Carthusian monks would ultimately learn to loathe the man revamping their hilltop
home, suing the artist in a long, arduous legal battle that ultimately affected Fanzago's health and the
number of his commissions. By the time of his death in 1678, the greatest baroque master Naples had
ever seen cut a poor, neglected figure.
The Baroque
While the Renaissance all but transformed Italy's north, its impact on southern streets-
capes was much less dramatic. In Naples, one of the few buildings to page the Florentine
style is the Palazzo Cuomo, now home to the Museo di Filangieri. Featuring typically
Tuscan rusticated walls, the late-15th-century building was created for wealthy Florentine
merchant Angelo Como ('Cuomo' in Neapolitan) before finding new life as a monastery
in 1587. Curiously, the building was taken down in the 1880s and accurately reassembled
20m further west to accommodate the widening of Via Duomo.
Yet, what Naples missed out on during the Renaissance, it
more than made up for in the baroque of the 17th and 18th
centuries. Finally, the city had found an aesthetic to suit its ex-
hibitionist streak; a style that celebrated the bold, the gold and
the over-the-top. Neapolitan baroque rose out of heady times.
Under 17th-century Spanish rule, the city became one of
Europe's biggest. Swelling crowds and counter-Reformation
fervour sparked a building boom, with taller-than-ever
palazzi
(large buildings) mixing it with glittering showcase churches.
Ready to lavish the city's new landmarks was a brash, arrogant
and fiery league of architects and artists, who brushed aside
tradition and rewrote the rulebooks.
Best Baroque
Surprises
» Farmacia Storica, Os-
pedale degli Incurabili,
Naples
» Sacristy, Basilica di San
Paolo Maggiore, Naples
