A treasure-filled palace for sale built by one of the greatest architects of the 18th century, and which became birthplace of Italy as we know it
Palazzo Doria D'Angri, in the centre of the city of Naples, is as fascinating as it is breathtaking.
It was a truth universally accepted in the 18th century that a young man of good fortune must be in need of a grand country house. The huge popularity of the Grand Tour at the time often meant that those wealthy children of aristocratic families, swayed by the treasures they'd seen (and as often as not collected) on the Continent, would commission one of the great British architects of the age to create a Palladian or Neo-Classical family seat: the likes of Robert Adam, James Gibbs, Sir John Soane and many more became enormously successful and famous, competing with each other for the best commissions.
In Italy the story was similar, but by the mid 18th century there was one architect in south of the country generally considered to be the name at the top of the list: Luigi Vanvitelli.
Vanvitelli (1700-1773) was the son of an Italian mother and a Dutch father — a painter — who became the most celebrated architect and engineer of his generation. He did everything from building aqueducts and palaces to re-building the dome of St Peter’s in Rome, and while he didn't design the Trevi fountain — that was Nicola Salvi — he was the architect chosen to remodel the Palazzo Poli that sits behind it, to further enhance Salvi's masterpiece.
The biggest chunk of his career, though, was spent in the creation the building that is his crowning glory: the Royal Palace of Caserta (aka Reggia di Caserta) for the King of Naples.
This baroque masterpiece is one of the finest palaces built anywhere in the world during the 1700s — and it’s certainly the largest, at almost 1.5 million square feet. That’s 50% bigger than Versailles, and almost double the size of Buckingham Palace. If you wondering what it looks like inside, dig out that old DVD of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. Natalie Portman’s palace on Naboo was actually la Reggia di Caserta.
To find a house built by this great architect up for sale, then, is quite something — but that’s what we have in the form of Palazzo Doria D'Angri, right in the heart of Naples itself, which is on the market via Sotheby’s International Realty at €15 million.
In the heart of the city, Palazzo Doria D'Angri is a true Naples landmark.
Giving the bare numbers behind the palace gives a sense of its scale — five floors, 15 bedrooms, 22 bathrooms, 21,500sq ft plus a cellar, a lift and underground parking. The eagle-eyed will have probably realised that the number of bathrooms, the lift and the parking facility show that the palace is presently set up and run as a glorious baroque hotel.
Yet these types of details have never felt less meaningful, because this is a house whose appeal is in its beauty and the treasures within: according to the agents, 43 Murano chandeliers, 110 original artworks, more than 500 prints, 32 mirrors, 12 columns and 29 statues.
The architecture is the work of Vanvitelli — sadly, he died before it was finished — but the frescoes, stucco work and art within are the work of some of Italy’s best 18th century painters and craftspeople, among them Fedele Fischetti, Francesco Fuga, Mario Gioffredo and the Desiderio brothers.
For all that, the house’s place in Italian history doesn’t rest on its eminent architecture or the glory within, for on September 7, 1860, General Garibaldi appeared on the balcony of Palazzo Doria D'Angri to announce that Sicily had been annexed by the nascent Kingdoms of Italy, following the revolutionary leader’s Expedition of the Thousand.
It wasn’t quite the final step in the creation of Italy as a nation state, but it marked the first time since the fall of the Roman Empire that the north and south of the country were united. It’s the dinner party story to end them all.
Palazzo Doria D'Angri is for sale via Sotheby’s International Realty — see more details.
