Gian Giacomo dell'Acaja

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Gian Giacomo dell'Acaja , also Gian Giacomo dell'Acaia or dell'Acaya (* around 1500 in Segine ( Vernole ); † 1570 in Segine or Lecce ) was an Italian feudal lord. He was an architect and fortress builder in the service of Charles V and the Viceroy of Naples, Pedro de Toledo .

life and work

Gian Giacomo was born in Naples to Alfonso, Lord of Galugnano, and Maria Francone. The family was of French origin - Acaya is the Latinized form of de La Haye - and came to Italy in the wake of Charles of Anjou. The father was the feudal lord of Galugnano and San Cesario and had taken part in the siege of Lecce in 1501 under Gonzalo di Cordoba . In 1509, in the service of Venice, he had organized the defense of the city of Brindisi against Spanish troops and a year later the defense of the city of Otranto against the same Venetians.

Little is known about his son Gian Giacomo's youth and education. But he seems to have received both a humanistic and a mathematical education. When French troops advanced as far as Salento in 1528 , Gian Giacomo successfully fought against the French invaders on the side of Charles V with Albanian mercenaries, led by a member of the Kastrioti family. Shortly after defeating the French, he met the emperor in Naples.

Corner tower of the fortification of Acaya

In 1535, the town of Segine, which had been in the family's fief since 1294 , was renamed Acaya after Gian Giacomo fortified the town with walls, bastions, moats and ramparts in an exemplary manner and the expansion of the fort that his father had begun as Fortress had completed. In 1536 all construction work on the fort was completed.

In the following year, the Viceroy of Naples, Pedro de Toledo , who feared an invasion of the Ottomans in Apulia and Calabria, entrusted him with the supervision of the fortifications on the Adriatic coast. The walls and the fort in Castro , the fort of Barletta , the fortifications of Copertino , Mola , Galatina , Molfetta , Parabita and Gallipoli were fortified .

He was also given the task of expanding the fortress and the walls around Lecce . After completing the work, he went to Crotone and built the city wall there in 1543/44. In 1545 he was appointed by the Spanish viceroy as royal architect ( architetto regio ) to Naples , where he completed the construction of Castel Sant'Elmo in 1547. In 1548 he was back in Lecce, where he designed and built the Porta Napoli, which was built on the site of the old Porta San Giusto in thanks to Emperor Charles V, who had financed the fortification of the city, as the inscription says . After Don Pedro's death in 1553, he retired to Acaya.

Triumphal arch of the Porta Napoli in Lecce, in the coat of arms the imperial double-headed eagle with imperial crown

buildings

  • 1535 Construction of the city wall around Acaya
  • 1537 Completion of the Castel Sant'Elmo in Naples
  • 1539–1549 Castle and bastions of the wall belt in Lecce
  • 1548 Arco Trionfale (Porta Napoli) in Lecce
  • 1548 The renovation and expansion of the Ospedale dello Spirito Santo in Lecce begins.
  • Attributed to Palazzo della Regia Udienza di Lecce
  • Castles of Cosenza and Capua, attributed
  • Cappella des Kastello in Taranto , attributed

literature

Web links

Commons : Gian Giacomo dell'Acaya  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Giustiniano degli Azzi Vitelleschi: Acaia, Giovanni Giacomo dell ' . In: Ulrich Thieme , Felix Becker (Hrsg.): General Lexicon of Fine Artists from Antiquity to the Present . Founded by Ulrich Thieme and Felix Becker. tape 1 : Aa – Antonio de Miraguel . Wilhelm Engelmann, Leipzig 1907, p. 35 ( Textarchiv - Internet Archive ).
  2. ^ Saur's general artist lexicon. Volume 1. 2007.
personal data
SURNAME Acaja, Gian Giacomo dell '
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Acaia, Gian Giacomo dell '; Acaya, Gian Giacomo dell '
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian architect and fortress builder
DATE OF BIRTH 1500
PLACE OF BIRTH Segine
DATE OF DEATH 1570
Place of death Segine or Lecce