entry Feb 2013
Gaetano Genovese, Royal Architect
Gaetano Genovese (1795–1860) was the chief architect for the royal house of Bourbon in Naples during most of the reign of Ferdinand II (1810-1859), the next-to-last monarch of the Kingdom of Naples (reigning from 1830 until his death). Genovese was born in Eboli, about 70 km (40 miles) south of Naples. He studied architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Naples and completed his studies in Rome. In 1824 he was taken on as an assistant architect for the royal house and eventually took the place of the great Tuscan architect, Antonio Niccolini (1772-1850), the person who had restored the San Carlo theater in 1816 after a disastrous fire. Genovese was also a decorator and very much concerned with the interiors of buildings as well as with how they looked from the outside.
In 1837, the king authorized Genovese to
restore the Royal Palace in Naples (located between what
is today the large Piazza Plebiscito and the old Maschio
Angioino at the port. The San Carlo opera theater is, in
fact, built onto the north side of the Royal Palace).
Portions of the palace had been destroyed by fire; the
restoration was planned to be finished by 1858, but
because of political and military events —that is, the
threatening invasion from the north that eventually united
Italy— work was never completed. Yet, many of Genovese's
changes came to fruition. He was conservative and relied
at least partially on the plans of the great architect who
had designed the original palace in 1600, Domenico Fontana.
Genovese was responsible for the neo-Classical design and
motifs obvious when you enter the palace from the
courtyard and find the magnificent double staircase
(photo, left). As well, Genovese removed the remnants of
the old vice-royal palace built by the Spanish in the
1500s. (It stood more or less where the San Carlo parking
lot is today, which space is adjacent to a small garden
called Giardino Italia, also one of Genovese's
ideas. He also redesigned the entire long southern facade
of the palace (photo, below) On the inside, Genovese
totally rearranged the disposition of private rooms, royal
apartments and spaces given over to large gatherings;
thus, when you visit the palace today, you are essentially
looking at Genovese's vision from the mid-1800s.
Genovese
also worked on trying to finish some of the never-ending
construction of the grand Royal
Palace in Caserta, begun in 1752 by the first king
of Naples, Charles III, and
entrusted to Luigi Vanvitelli,
one of the greatest Italian architects of all. The Caserta
palace was never finished, but starting in 1839, Genovese
got in a few good contributions, including the splendid
throne room and a kind of "flying seat"—an early version
of the lift/elevator. (I have been unable to find a good
picture of it, so I shall have to go back out there and
hitch a ride in it, but stay tuned!)In 1841 Genovese helped remodel the Villa Pignatelli, still one of the fine examples of neo-Classicism in Italy. Work included building the spaces that today house a coach museum. In 1852 he took a post as a professor of architecture at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, where he, himself, had studied. In 1853 he became the director of construction at the large Poggioreale cemetery, which included finishing the main church on the grounds.
to architecture portal to top of this page
© 2002 - 2023