Palazzo Donn'Anna is a historic residence in

Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. It sits prominently at water's edge at the beginning of the

Posillipo Posillipo (; ) is an affluent residential quarter of Naples, southern Italy, located along the northern coast of the Gulf of Naples. From the 1st century BC the Bay of Naples witnessed the rise of villas constructed by elite Romans along the mo ...

coast, just west of the

Mergellina Mergellina () is a coastal district of the city of Naples, Italy. It is located in the quartiere of Chiaia. It stands at the foot of the Posillipo Hill and faces the Castel dell'Ovo. Some people say the name derives from ''mergoglino'', a local nam ...

boat harbor. The building is on the site of the so-called "Rocks of the Siren" and, indeed, was originally called ''La Villa Sirena''.

History

The original building on the site was probably built by one Dragonetto Bonifacio in the early 15th century. It changed hands a number of times and finally was inherited in 1630 by the woman whose name it now bears, Anna Carafa, duchess of Stigliano and wife of

Ramiro Núñez de Guzmán Ramiro is a Spanish and Portuguese name from the latinisation of the Gothic given name *𐍂𐌰𐌽𐌰𐌼𐌹𐍂 (*Ranamir). Notable people with the name include: Given name * Ramiro I of Asturias (c. 790–850), king of Asturias * Ramiro I ...

, the Spanish

Viceroy of Naples This is a list of viceroys of the Kingdom of Naples. Following the conquest of Naples by Louis XII of France in 1501, Naples was subject to the rule of the foreign rulers, first for a short time by the King of France and later by Spain and the Hab ...

. She had the building redone by architect

Cosimo Fanzago Cosimo Fanzago (Clusone, 12 October 1591 – Napoli, 13 February 1678) was an Italian architect and sculptor, generally considered the greatest such artist of the Baroque period in Naples, Italy. Biography Early life and education Fanzago was ...

in the 1640s. When her husband returned to Spain alone in 1644, the unfinished palace was left abandoned and neglected The palace was purchased from the heirs of Anna Carafa by Teora Mirelli. The grand but decaying baroque building projecting directly into the sea presented an irresistible subject for eighteenth- and nineteenth-century artists. In particular, thanks to the nearby villa of William Hamilton, many were the foreign and British travellers who remained fascinated.Palazzo Donn'Anna, Storia Arte e Natura, curated by Pietro Belli, Allemandi 2017 By the beginning of the 19th century, the structure was still markedly dilapidated. In the early 1900 a French family, Genevois, bought it and started transforming it as it appears to be today. The Western wing was sold in 1928 to the Colonna di Paliano family and later to many more families, being fractioned by the Genevois heirs in smaller units. Part of the building is still a ruin, but most of it is currently used as a residence, including the home gallery of art dealer Lia Rumma and for Napoli football player

Dries Mertens Dries "Ciro" Mertens (; born 6 May 1987) is a free agent Belgian professional Association football, footballer who last played as a Forward (association football), forward or Winger (association football), winger for Süper Lig club Galatasaray ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palazzo Donn'anna Houses completed in the 15th century Donn'Anna Donn'Anna 15th-century establishments in Italy