Palazzo Barbaja is a palace located on
via Toledo
Via Toledo is an ancient street and one of the most important shopping thoroughfares in the city of Naples, Italy. The street is almost long and starts at Piazza Dante (Naples), Piazza Dante and ends in Piazza Trieste e Trento, near Piazza del ...
of the quartiere
San Ferdinando of
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
.
Facade
The palace was the home of
Domenico Barbaja
Domenico Barbaia (also spelled Barbaja; 10 August 1777 – 19 October 1841) was best known as an opera Italian impresario.
An energetic man, Barbaia, who was born in Milan, began his career by running a coffee shop. He made his first fortune by ...
, a famous theater impresario of 19th century Naples. In the years 1815–1822,
Gioacchino Rossini
Gioachino Antonio Rossini (29 February 1792 – 13 November 1868) was an Italian composer who gained fame for his 39 operas, although he also wrote many songs, some chamber music and piano pieces, and some sacred music. He set new standards ...
was his guest at times. Rossini had a contract with the
Teatro del Fondo The Teatro del Fondo is a theatre in Naples, now known as the Teatro Mercadante. It is located on Piazza del Municipio, Naples, Piazza del Municipio #1, with the front facing the west side of Castel Nuovo, Naples, Castel Nuovo and near the Molo (Doc ...
to write the music for the libretto of
Francesco Berio Salsa to
Otello
''Otello'' () is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play ''Othello''. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on 5 February 1887.
Th ...
. Berio also lived nearby. Because of his dilatory progress, Rossini was almost imprisoned in his room until he finished the music.
The building dates back to 16th century and was remodeled in the second half of the 18th century in a sober
neoclassical style. The ground floor and the mezzanine are covered in
ashlar
Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitruv ...
blocks. The first two floors above the ground are marked by giant Ionic pilasters.
Bibliography
*Aurelio De Rose, ''I Palazzi di Napoli. Storia, curiosità e aneddoti che si tramadano da secoli su questi straordinari testimoni della vita partenopea'', Newton e Compton editor, Naples, 2004.
{{Italy-struct-stub
Barbaja
16th-century establishments in Italy
