Naples, restored the funeral monument of Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo

Restored the funeral monument of Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo, marquis of Villafranca, from the pontifical Royal Basilica of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli in Naples. The intervention was made possible thanks to Capri Group, a patron of the Friends of Naples Association.

The monument was erected at the behest of Don Pedro himself, the eldest of the Spanish viceroys who took turns from 1503 to 1707, who commissioned Giovanni Merliano da Nola to build it. However, death caught the viceroy in Florence in 1553, when the monument in Naples had not yet been finished, and so he was buried in the Florentine cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore. The monumental sarcophagus was executed in several stages by Giovanni Merliano da Nola, who used several aids (1540-70). Construction work was completed in 1570.

The monument consists of a large square work placed on a base, also square, decorated with friezes, heads and festoons on which are allegorical statues of the cardinal virtues, symbols of the Spanish ruler’s moral qualities. On three sides of a second, narrower base, on the other hand, are bas-reliefs worked in the stiacciato technique depicting the viceroy’s deeds.
The first depicts the victory against the Turks in 1538 who, having landed on the southern coast of the peninsula and unable to subdue Otranto, occupied and sacked Ugento and Castro. Pedro de Toledo sent some of the troops on the ships of Admiral Doria and his son Garcia and with others went himself to Apulia, stopping at Melfi and then Taranto; the Turks were forced to retreat at this point: the scene shows Don Pedro on horseback, Christians taken prisoner by the Turks and various groups of fighters.
The second feat concerns the victory achieved in the waters of Baia in 1544 against Frederick Barbarossa: the Aragonese castle is depicted in the center and Monte di Procida in the distance. The corsair surrendered to the viceroy after trying in vain to take Ischia and Pozzuoli. The third event refers instead to the Neapolitan visit of Charles V in 1535: Don Pedro, dismounted from his horse, awaits the emperor’s arrival at Porta Capuana, while around him a procession is in celebration. Above the sarcophagus, on either side of a feathered helmet, are instead placed the kneeling figures of Pedro de Toledo and his first wife Maria Ossorio Pimentel; the viceroy is portrayed with grave and solemn features, Pimentel is reading a sacred book with a reflective air.

The restoration was made possible thanks to the involvement of the masters of L’Officina Restauro with Del Core Restyling and is part of the major restoration works launched in 2019 under the supervision of the Soprintendenza Archeologia Belle arti e paesaggio. “We are delighted to have contributed to the restoration by supporting Friends of Naples and are happy to participate in the joy of inaugurating the monument dedicated to the illustrious Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo,” saidGaìì Nunzio and Anna Colella, founders of the Capri group.

The Church of San Giacomo degli Spagnoli is “one of the symbolic places of the city,” recalled Naples Mayor Gaetano Manfredi. “This restoration,” he continued, “can also be said to be the prelude to a major project on which we have been working for over a year and which ties in with the city of Florence, as well as Spain.”

Photo Ansa

Naples, restored the funeral monument of Don Pedro Alvarez de Toledo

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