Between Local and Global, Civil Architecture in Palermo and the Surrounding Area at the Time of Charles V

Abstract

During his triumphal tour through Sicily, following victory in the battle of Tunis in 1535 Charles V, when arrived in Palermo, was hosted in Palazzo Aiutamicristo, an imposing building commissioned by a banker in the last decade of the 15th century and considered at that time to be the most beautiful and suitable location for housing the emperor and his entourage. It was immediately after this event that new trends in the field of civil architecture can be found in the island’s capital city and its surroundings. New or renovated buildings testify to the “complex genesis” of modern palaces in Sicily at the time of Charles V; it is true also for the suburban residences. All’antica models started to replace previous linguistic, technic and spatial solutions, conceived in the wake of Mediterranean Gothic, but also conditioned by other external inputs, that were linked to the visual culture of a multifaceted group of clients. Although many palaces and villas built at that time have been demolished or heavily transformed, the scholars can count on a significant number of elements or fragments of previous configurations, as well as written sources. The focus has been placed on some themes, important for assessing new trends in civil architecture, or the persistence of established solutions linked to local examples. These are: the design of portals and windows on the façades; the positioning of the stairs and their relation with courtyards and loggias; the introduction of loggias in suburban residences; the design of gardens surrounding villas. Ultimately, this contribution aims to investigate how far the new dimension of Charles V’s empire affected the Sicilian context in the field of civil architecture, one that is very sensitive to changes in social and cultural perspectives.