We the Italians July 18, 2016 - 81 | Page 20

th tH # 81 JULY 18 , 2016 Twenty bas-relief portraying Vespasiano’s ancestors are exhibited in the Galleria degli Antenati, while in the Sala degli Elefanti, a line of elephants is on the frieze. The elaborate wooden ceiling of the Sala dei Leoni is the first of a series of four carved ceilings and is the only one made in walnut; the others are made in Lebanon cedar, a strong and valuable wood, carved in the typical Mannerist style as Spanish goldsmithry was. On Piazza San Rocco are the seventeenth-century Church of San Rocco with frescoes by Giovanni Morini and the Synagogue on the second floor of a group of houses that formed the ancient Jewish agglomeration. The Synagogue, built by the architect Carlo Visioli in 1824, has a valuable stuccoed vault made by Swiss artist Peter Bull (1840). After the restoration of 1994 it was reopened for worship and the public. Teatro all’Antica (158890), going on Via Teatro from Piazza Ducale, is the # 81 juLY 18 , 2016 first example of a permanent theater in Europe; originally it was a separate building, not bound to any existing structure. This wonderful theater was designed by Vincenzo Scamozzi who was called to Sabbioneta by Vespasiano after having designed the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza. On the lower side of the façade are the portal and windows surrounded by a smooth ashlar, while Doric pilaster strips divide niches and windows on the upper one. twelve Corinthian pillars on which rest the statues of the Olympian gods; five steps join the porch with the auditorium and so the audience was put at the centre of the scene thanks to continuity among the different spaces. The sloping floor and the ceiling accentuated the sense of depth and the feeling of being in an open space, as in the greek-roman amphitheaters. On the added stage there was the fixed scene designed by Scamozzi representing an urban perspective, it was The interior has a rectan- destroyed in the eightegular plan with a semicir- enth century. In two large cular open gallery with frescoes on the walls are painted urban scenes of Rome that was the figurative model that inspired the whole Vespasiano’s architectural conception. Palazzo Giardino (157888) is the delightful place where the prince took refuge to read, study and distract himself from the efforts of government. The palace is announced by the Column of Pallas Athena with an ancient statue of Hadrian age but it is as spare outside as it is rich inside. The rooms at the first floor host the vast literary culture of Vespasiano, supported by rich decorative works by Bernardino Campi from Cremona and his collaborators. Frescoes depict the fantasy world of the declining Renaissance: mannerist stuccoes and frescoes in the room called Camera dei Miti, the fine grotesques by Fornarino that adorn the walls of Camerino delle Grazie, Flemish landscapes and rural scenes by Campi in the Sala degli Specchi. the existing sixteenth-century structure. Going out the city from Porta Imperiale (1579) with its front covered with white marble, just outside Sabbioneta are the remains of the fortress and the circle of walls that form an irregular star and that can be seen following the external walkway which highlights six bastions. The name The name derives from the word sabbia, “sand”, from the alluvial deposits of the rivers Po and Oglio. The town was made built by Vespasiano Gonzaga Colonna on the dry sand resulting of a benedectiFrom this room starts ne reclamation during the the Galleria degli Antichi eleventh century. (1584-86), 96 meters long, designed to contain the The product collection of ancient mar- Cookies called Filos are bles of the Duke that is typical of Sabbioneta, are now hosted in in Mantua made with lard and mint at Palazzo Ducale. or chocolate pralines. The sbrisolona cake is prepaGoing on Via Vespasia- red with the old recipe, no Gonzaga, on the left is different than tradition of Pa lazzo Forti, owned by a Mantua: with hazelnuts wealthy Jewish family until instead of almonds and the first half of the twen- wheat flour instead of corn tieth century, and on the flour. right is the Church of the Carmine (1683) rebuilt on 20 | WE THE ITALIANS WE THE ITALIANS | 21 www.wetheitalians.com www.wetheitalians.com