Rilevamento integrato, rappresentazioni e letture analitiche del Palazzo

The integrated survey of the palazzo, located within a constituent section of the old city, was planned on the basis of various analytical and study requirements for gaining an understanding of the historical stratification and the formal, layout and structural aspects needed to provide the basic documentation for the restoration project. The linked system for surveying the internal spaces, from the ground floor to the upper levels, was defined on the basis of a planimetric survey using an aerial-photographic platform connected to the topographical land grid. The elevations of the internal spaces and the facades were also measured, followed by a more detailed definition of the decorative apparatus. These stages produced the various representations in the appropriate scales that from the general to the detail made up the support on which the graphical-analytical readings of the building could be made. The graphic rereading in particular, taken from the survey, provided support for the historical and archive research; the lack of documents being compensated by direct study of the living spaces, the elevations and the masonry. This information confirmed the presence of sections relating to previous buildings incorporated into the new layout. These included the original entrance marked by a rich doorway in mannerist style. It is distinguished by typical ashlar work and sited in an entrance hall where the structure of the original space can still be perceived, despite the numerous alterations made. The analytical representations, compiled with three-dimensional study models, also allowed several plausible hypotheses to be advanced on the development of the building, based on stylistic correspondences and an analysis of the building techniques used, substantially confirmed by dating of the painting cycles and by thermographic studies. The building plan is essentially composed of four main nuclei, which can be identified as distinct residential units and have been denominated for clarity as A, B, C and D. Block A is the ceremonial part of the building, that redesigned in the 18th-century plan, which moved the main entrance laterally to the space in front of the narrow Piazza Martiri della Libertà, initially the parvis of the church of San Domenico. The corner volume containing the entrance courtyard, rising to only one floor above ground, actually plays an important hinging role. It was conceived to relate the renewed reception rooms, served by the monumental staircase, to the already existing building units, which were reconnected by the wide inner courtyard leading to the garden behind. The rectangular atrium greets and directs the visitor to the main wing of the building that overlooks it, leading towards the 18th-century staircase that gives access to the upper floors. Crossing the central vaulting also allows one to go laterally towards the stables yard with well annex, then continue into the other building units B, C and D facing onto the garden. The facade on Corso Marrucino containing the main rooms of the palazzo is vertically marked by eight modules defined on the ground floor by a basement band with ashlared pilasters. The facade register above includes both floors of the building, horizontally marked by a sequence of windows with gables, curved on the first floor and triangular on the second. The openings are interspersed by a double order of linear pilasters in axis with the ashlared ones beneath. The elevation also houses an access relating to the original entrance to the residence, still corresponding to the patio where the doorway in mannerist style is located and which led to the first residential unit by way of the double-return staircase. Finally, a special study was made of the decorative apparatus and the building’s distinguishing elements such as the facade, the monumental staircase with statues in niches and some frescoed vaults, surveyed with the help of a 3D laser scanner.