Floral decorations and colours in Naples. The case of Villa Pappone in Posillipo

Abstract

The contribution investigates some examples of the architectural heritage developed in Naples with the expansion and regeneration plan of the city between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, with particular reference to villa Pappone in Posillipo, identifying the decorative features of the Art Nouveau that have given expressiveness to architecture. The typological innovation of the so-called Floral style spreads in Naples mainly in the newly urbanized districts of Vomero, Posillipo, Parco Margherita, and Chiaia, through the construction of villas and palaces that strongly characterize the urban context; some of these examples are also isolated in some urban areas or overwhelmed by successive buildings.

The Liberty in Naples is linked to the works of Adolfo Avena, Giulio Ulisse Arata and Gregorio Botta, who operate an integration between ancient and modern through the new architectural language, which finds its maximum expression in the use of glass surfaces, made with refined decorations and chromatic variations, capable of creating interesting colour reflections and suggestive effects in the diffusion of light. The villa designed by Gregorio Botta in 1912 for Francesco Pappone in Posillipo is an emblematic example of the Neapolitan Liberty, which refers to the models in vogue in the countries of central Europe. The contribution proposes a distribution scheme of the decorative elements of the main facade of the villa classified according to the material used, and their graphic restitution through image-based modelling techniques, in particular of the distinctive entrance canopy made by ornate ironwork and polychrome glasses and the hand-painted majolica tiles bands that run through the building on various levels.