Architecture of the eighteenth century in episcopio di sarno. the open staircase in the late-baroque residences in the capital and the Province.

Abstract

The use of the open staircase in the baroque and late-baroque residence in Campania is one of the topics that have most influenced the design of private spaces between the Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. The paper points out the relationships between the system of open staircases adopted in Naples and significant examples built in Episcopio di Sarno (Sa) and influenced by a similar process of ‘metamorphosis’ of the private residence, as well as by the activity of masters like Ferdinando Sanfelice, Domenico Antonio Vaccaro, Angelo and Francesco Solimene. The outlined picture is of great interest for a more extensive cognitive investigation of the architecture in Campania, where it is possible to observe unpublished late Baroque buildings in which the system of the open staircases and its connections with the courtyard and the rear garden are used as elements of spatial articulation, as functional spaces intended for the owner’s use of the palace and to highlight the fame and prestige of the families interested in promoting their name over the restricted local borders.