Palazzo DORIA d'ANGRI

Destination Naples

PALAZZO DORIA d’ANGRI

Palazzo Doria d’Angri is a splendid residence whose main facade on Piazza Sette Settembre is known to most for an important historical event: it was in fact from the balcony of honour of this building that, on September 7, 1860, Giuseppe Garibaldi appeared to greet the crowd and announce the annexation of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies to the Kingdom of Italy.

Much less known, however, is the amazing interior of this noble palace, commissioned by Marcantonio Doria, prince of Angri, representative of an important family of Genoese origin (to which Villa Doria d’Angri in Posillipo also belonged).
In these rooms, the skilled Neapolitan painter Fedele Fischetti (1732 – 1792) created,  in addition to the decorations and furnishings, some spectacular frescoes with allegorical scenes.Today the parts that retain the original decorations are the “cabinet” of the mirrors and the elliptical-shaped gallery on the main floor: the latter was intended for dance parties.

Fedele Fischetti's fresco in the elliptical room represents the Triumph of Lamba Doria in the battle of Korcula. The whole is embellished with refined golden decorations, mirrors and stucco caryatids. The design of this building, with a trapezoidal plan, dates back to 1755, when Marcantonio Doria asked for a concession to build a palace for his family; the design was by Luigi Vanvitelli, who supplied the drawings in 1769. The house also included a chapel, of which the eighteenth-century altar is still visible.

The apartment on the main floor, after a careful restoration completed in spring 2020, has returned to its former glory and is now available on request for private events.

(text taken from "Unusual and Secret Naples" by Valerio Ceva Grimaldi and Maria Franchini, Jonglez Editions)

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