Spolia e spazi urbani nel Rinascimento meridionale. Alcune riflessioni sulla committenza di Orso Orsini, conte di Nola

Abstract

The recent shift away from a monarchic-centric perspective in scholarship has led to a more balanced consideration of the role played by barons in the Aragonese Kingdom. Drawing on the Nolan humanist Ambrogio Leone’s Nola patria, printed in Venice in 1514, this paper explores the patronage of Orso Orsini (d. 1479). Orsini was the count of Nola and duke of Ascoli, as well as a capable and esteemed condottiere and prominent politician in fifteenth-century Italy. The paper focuses in particular on the public square of Nola and its setting up all’antica with Roman spolia. It offers some reflections on the process of construction involved in realizing Orsini’s ideas and also shows the inclusion of the Count of Nola in the cultural networks through which humanistic ideals were spread.