An Armchair Traveller's History of Apulia (35 page)

As soon as Giangirolamo’s men entered the city a reign of terror began, ‘traitors’ being tortured and hanged. The septuagenarian Baron Sambiase was hung up to die by dangling from one foot, the mayor, who had fled to Gallipoli, was pursued and killed, while four canons were shot and beheaded; their heads, wearing birettas, were nailed over their choir-stalls in the cathedral; it was rumoured that their bodies were flayed and the skins used to cover chairs in the
gran salone
(grand gallery) at Conversano. The houses of many other rebels were razed to the ground. Il Guercio’s governor continued the hangings for several months. Count Giangirolamo was arrested for a second time in 1651 and once more taken to Spain. He never saw Conversano or Nardò again, dying in 1655 when about to sail home. It was probably a stroke, but popular legend claims that the Spaniards had him torn to pieces by wild horses.

This bloodstained ogre was one of the greatest patrons of art in Apulian history. The church of SS. Cosma e Damiano, which he built at Conversano between 1636 and 1650, is a Baroque jewel-box. The most important artist he employed was Paolo Domenico Finoglio, born about 1590, who had made his reputation at Naples, helping Ribera and Artemisia Gentileschi decorate the Certosa of San Martino. He arrived at Conversano in 1635 with less than ten years to live, and, leaving the frescoes in SS. Cosma e Damiano to Fracanzano and Carlo Rosa, concentrated on painting the altar-pieces, together with a moving “Martyrdom of San Gennaro” in the cloister.

Finoglio’s finest paintings have returned to Conversano after a long absence, restored to their glory, and may be seen again at the castle. These are ten scenes from Il Guercio’s favourite epic, Tasso’s “Gerusalemme Liberata”, a fantastic reconstruction in verse of the first Crusade; a world of jewelled grottoes, magic islands and enchanted forests, full of golden serpents and goblins with dragon-wings, inhabited by heroes (such as the Norman Godefroy de Bouillon), guardian angels, fiendish witches and ladies in armour, especially a dying Saracen sorceress of wonderful beauty who begs for baptism. The sub-plots are stories of love for unattainable heroines by knights errant driven out of their wits by spells. Holding a torch, the artist himself appears in “The Torture of Olindo and Sofronia”, with melancholy eyes, a huge fleshy nose and a cleft chin.

One of Finoglio’s finest sacred paintings, “St Benedict and St Sabinus”, is in the nearby abbey church of San Benedetto. The Counts of Conversano certainly left their mark on this abbey, their preferred burial place. An ancient foundation, whose church dates in part from the eleventh century, it later became a convent of Cistercian nuns under a mitred abbess. The counts’ daughters supplied most of the haughty abbesses, who were a byword for truly staggering arrogance when they dealt with bishops, neighbouring magnates or anyone else, until the abbey was dissolved in 1809.

Il Guercio had three sons, all men of the sword. Cosmo, (‘O Sfidante’), was slain in the duel at Ostuni, Giulio fell in battle, while Giantommaso took vows as a Knight of Malta. But Cosmo’s son prospered. “The ancient castle or palace is most majestic, newly refurbished as a splendid dwelling by Count Acquaviva, lord of the city and of the surrounding region”, wrote the Abate Pacichelli, who came to Conversano during the 1680s. He tells us reverently that the count’s courtiers are “all titled people”, admires his fine furniture with its gilt and embroidery, and is dazzled by “an almost unbelievable abundance of silver plate, mingled with vases of porcelain and rock crystal.” (This was the Count Giulio who threatened to cut off the Duke of Noja’s nose and ears.)

The Counts of Conversano were famous for their magnificent horses. After the invention of firearms heavy mounts for carrying men in full armour had to be replaced by swift, athletic animals that were capable of taking evasive action when necessary. From the fifteenth century the Counts imported Andalusian and Arab stallions to cover local mares, and by the eighteenth their offspring were being offered to half the courts of Europe; Lippizaners trace some of their blood-lines to Conversano stallions. Cirò Annichiarico, the brigand priest, who had ridden some of the finest horses in Apulia, thought that Conversanos were faster than Andalusians.

The Acquaviva d’Aragona’s final years were embittered by sordid wrangles over feudal dues. Even the brigands whom they had been employing as their enforcers were unable to help them after the crown’s draconian new measures against
banditi
. In 1801 Giulio Antonio IV, thirty-eighth Count of Conversano, left the city in disgust to live at Naples. Five years later, King Joseph Bonaparte abolished feudalism and the Acquaviva sold the castle soon after. They retained many of their Apulian estates, however, together with their lordly hunting-lodge of Marchione.

Built about 1740 by Count Giulio Antonio III, between Conversano and Putignano, Marchione is unique in Apulia because the Apulian magnates normally stayed at a
masseria
when they went hunting. In design it is a beautiful little castle whose four squat towers are crowned by terraces, and whose elegant
piano nobile
(noble floor)has an arcaded loggia that is reached by ascending a majestic double staircase. Despite standing among almond and cherry orchards today, as a hunting-lodge it once stood in an oak forest and two sole surviving oak-trees are lovingly preserved in the grounds. The game hunted was wild boar.

The last Acquaviva d’Aragona left Marchione to her son, the late Prince of Boiano (and Count of Conversano) who restored it. The house contains what must be the only surviving portrait of Il Guercio. Count Giangirolamo is shown as a stocky man with a Vandyck beard, a smiling face and a huge rapier – and no trace of a squint.

52

some barons are like sovereigns in their lands

Paolo Maria Doria, Vite Civile

FORTY KILOMETRES TO THE SOUTH EAST, Martina Franca is an even prettier little city than Conversano. On a hill at the highest level of the Murgia del Trulli it dominates the fertile Val d’Itria and, although nowadays its white walls are masked by high-rise flats, the centre remains unspoilt, with narrow white-washed streets and small Baroque
palazzi
that have wrought-iron balconies. A local historian, Michele Pizzigallo, describes it proudly as “belonging to yesterday, like a flower always in bud.”

Founded in the tenth century by refugees from the Saracens, Martina expanded in the fourteenth, being granted many privileges and adding “Franca” to its name. Raimondello del Balzo Orsini built a castle in 1388 while a hundred years later its lord was Francesco Coppolo, Count of Sarno, whom King Ferrante made his finance minister and then destroyed. In 1507 Martina Franca became a duchy and was given to Petraccone III Caracciolo del Leone, Count of Buccino in Basilicata. The family descended from ‘Sergianni’ Caracciolo, Grand Seneschal of Naples and lover of Queen Giovanna II, who amassed a vast fortune before being murdered. The Caracciolo del Leone took their name from the lion on their coat-of-arms, to be seen all over Martina Franca.

The Masaniello of Martina Franca, who led the 1647 revolt here, was a blacksmith, Vivantonio Montanaro, called ‘Capo-di-Ferro’, (‘Iron Head’). Duke Francesco I routed him by importing 300 mercenaries. But generally strife was less bloody, mainly wrangles over the ducal feudal dues that were levied by professional tax-gatherers. They caused chronic resentment, which was why most dukes preferred to spend much of their time at Buccino, until the accession of Petracone V in 1655.

Duke Petracone was always loyal to the
Regno
’s Spanish King and when only thirteen served in Spain against the Portuguese. On his return two years later he married Aurelia Imperiali of Francavilla. After killing the Count of Conversano, he and his brother Innico were imprisoned, but so many nobles interceded that they were soon released. When he came out of prison in 1668, Petracone began building a palace.

The old Orsini castle was pulled down, replaced by a
palazzo
, so beautifully proportioned that it has been attributed to Bernini. The main façade has a balcony with iron scroll-work running the length of the building beneath a long line of windows, and a tall gateway flanked by two great columns leading into a large court-yard. Pacichelli thought it “a work of perfection... very like the Casa Pamphilij in Piazza Navona at Rome”, noting that each façade has sixteen windows, and that there is a gallery, a theatre and a roof-garden. He reminds us that “The Lord Duke is also Marquis of Mottola... Lord of Bovino... and Baron of many other lands in Calabria and Lord of Locorotondo nearby, which produces horses and mules and supremely good milk, and is best for cheese.”

A portrait of Petracone V shows a self-satisfied face with a big nose verging on the bulbous, a low forehead and a pointed beard. According to Pizzigallo, he was “narrow and obstinate with his family, haughty and offhand with local gentry, open and generous with the people.” He lived in great splendour. When his son Francesco, Count of Buccino, married Eleanora Gaetani in 1700, Martina was illuminated for nights on end and horsemen carrying torches serenaded the
palazzo
, which was lit by splendid fireworks.

The duke had a favourite, Gaetano Faraone, an avaricious tailor, who became both informer and adviser. He ran everything in Martina Franca, but acquired some dangerous enemies, among them the Count and Countess of Buccino. When Petracone died in January, 1704, Faraone was immediately put in a dungeon and accused of dominating the late duke by witchcraft, with the aid of Nardantonia Casparro and Grascia di Mascio, “women commonly reputed to be expert at spells and magic.” Nardantonia’s daughter testified how one night the tailor had come to her mother’s house with dough from which five crosses were made. “The said Faraone crushed each in turn, stamping his feet as he did so crying ‘Devil, Devil, Devil, Beelzebub, give me entire ownership of the will and desires of Don Francesco, Count of Buccino, as I have over the Duke his father!’” He then placed the crosses in a bag, saying that he would drop them in a well. Five pieces of dough were found in a cistern at his house, wrapped in paper on which was written “Gaetano Faraone”.

When interrogated in February Faraone was very ill because “he had struck his breast with a stone while calling on God to pardon his sins.” He was placed in a “horrible dungeon” where he was found dead in May, the official cause of death being “gangrene of the bladder.” Forty years later, some citizens of Francavilla Fontana accused Francesco II of murdering him. He was so alarmed that he contemplated giving the duchy to his son and going into a monastery, but eventually escaped with a fine of 20,000 ducats.

Francesco II made feudal dues even more burdensome, with a new poll-tax. Martina Franca was divided into two parties; the duke’s followers and the moderates, the
Ducalisti
; and the radical
borghesi
, called
Universalisti
. However, as feudal lord the duke controlled elections to the commune and the appointment of most officials, including the mayor, and during the eighteenth century his vassals grew still more frustrated. Petracone VI, a straight-forward soldier who succeeded in 1752, did his best to make life easier, consulting both
Ducalisti
and
Universalisti
, but after seven years, exasperated by constant litigation, he handed the duchy over to his son.

Francesco III, who became duke in 1772, was much liked, his love of the country and interest in agriculture endearing him to the peasants. He and his wife, Stefania Pignatelli, modelled their little court on the royal court at Naples, plays being regularly produced in the palace theatre. In 1773 they commissioned Domenico Carella to paint the rooms of the
piano nobile
; the Mythology Room, the Bible Room and the Arcadia Room. As Rococo decoration they are superb, especially the Arcadia Room. On the ceiling are painted the Four Seasons. On the walls you can see the duke and his court. Francesco, in striped breeches and waistcoat, carries a tricorne hat while Duchess Stefania has a towering mass of powdered hair. They are surrounded by their courtiers, the local nobility, in a fête champêtre with fiddlers, a flautist and a huntsman with a hunting horn, and a background of country people. A beaming
Carella
watches from his easel in a corner. There are dogs everywhere, since the painter adored them.

Despite feudal dues, mules and horses brought prosperity to Martina Franca, as can be seen from its Rococo palaces. The best are Palazzi Panelli, Stabile, Martucci and Conte Barnaba, all graceful (yet surprisingly restrained for the period) and all built by the same unknown architect. The civic buildings are equally elegant, the Torre dell’ Orologio (1734) and the Palazzo della Corte (1763) in what is now Piazza Roma. Both saw many angry confrontations between
Ducalisti
and
Universalisti
.

Count de Salis, who, with Archbishop Capacelatro, visited the duke at his
masseria
at San Basilio on their way from Bari to Tàranto in 1789, recalled Francesco III’s friendly, unaffected manners. Dinner at the
masseria
, the Casa del Duca, was “a plain, almost rustic repast”. During the meal, the archbishop sang the duke’s praises to de Salis for preferring country life to the pleasures of the court at Naples.

Next morning Duke Francesco took de Salis to see his flock of 3,000 sheep and the dairy farm where cheese was made from their milk. All were purebred
pecore gentili
, descendants of the white Apulian sheep admired by the Romans, although by this date the hardier black sheep with a higher milk-yield was becoming more popular. On the way to the sheepfold the party met a band of shepherds, who walked before their flock carrying a banner, and playing a horn, an oboe, bagpipes and a curious local drum. They were also shown the duke’s horses, mules and donkeys, at a stud near the
masseria
.

When Francesco III died in 1794, feudalism died with him, even if legally it lingered on for a few more years. His son, Petracone VII, died prematurely in 1796 and the next duke, Placido I, was only eleven. After the
Universalisti
welcomed the Neapolitan Republic, the city was sacked by Cardinal Ruffo’s
Sanfedisti
and swelled by 7,000 recruits from the Murgia dei Trulli, whose wilder elements ripped up floors in a search for hidden money, plate or jewels. Silks and linen, china and furniture, wine, cheese and salami, were flung out of the windows to gangs waiting below. Some women had rings pulled off their fingers or earrings torn out of their ears.