Subjects
Subjects
Alghero is on a strip of land surrounded by the sea, along the so-called “Coral Riviera”. As a tourist destination, it is known for its white sandy beaches as well as for the long pine forest that starts from the town and continues in the direction of Porto Conte.
Casa De Ferrera takes its name from Pedro De Ferrera, Marquis of Bonvehì, a powerful feudal lord who defeated Nicolò Doria in 1436. Also used as a temporary residence by Charles V in 1541, when he stayed in Alghero for two days, the house later passed to the Manca Guiso family, Marquis D'Albis (hence the name Casa D'Albis); in the 19th century it became the property of Count Maramaldo, then of the De Arcayne. Since 1960 it has been converted into an apartment building.
The façade, corresponding to the type of the fifteenth-century Aragonese “palau”, develops horizontally in sharp and linear forms, made of perfectly squared sandstone ashlars. It is divided into three overlapping orders: on the ground floor, the openings have now been modified, safeguarding the remains of two doors with fan-arranged ashlars (“dovelladas”); the main entrance led to a patio with an open staircase and continuous balconies on the upper floors. In the second order, four mullioned windows open with round arches carved in a single block, supported by columns; next to these are two single-light windows with inflected arches, set on small decorated capitals, similar to contemporary examples in the nearby city of Sassari. A marcapiano frame marks the space between the second and third floors; in the latter there are five modern windows, as is the design of the ground floor, with the entrance to the building flanked by a series of commercial establishments.
History of studies
The reading of the building allowed Renata Serra (1984), followed by Aldo Sari (1990), to date Casa De Ferrera to the mid-15th century. The fact sheet in the volume by Francesca Segni Pulvirenti and Aldo Sari on late-Gothic and Renaissance-influenced architecture in Sardinia (1994) takes up the previous contributions, followed by the recent volume by Luciano Deriu (2000).
Bibliography
V. Angius, “Alghero”, in G. Casalis, Historical-Statistical-Commercial Geographical Dictionary of the States by H.M. the King of Sardinia, I, Turin, G. Maspero, 1833, pp. 77-126;
A. Della Marmora, Itinerary of the Island of Sardinia, Cagliari, Alagna, 1868, pp. 402-403; R. Serra, “The Sardinian-Catalan Architecture”, in The Catalans in Sardinia, edited by J. Carbonell-F. Manconi, Cinisello Balsamo, Amilcare Pizzi, 1984, pp. 125-154;
A. Sari, “Architecture in Alghero from the 15th to the 17th century”, in Biblioteca Francescana Sarda, IV, 1990, pp. 175-240; F. Segni Pulvirenti - A. Sari, Late Gothic and Renaissance Architecture. Nuoro, Ilisso, 1994, sheet 29;
L. Deriu, Alghero, the ancient city. Images and paths, Sassari, 2000, p. 47.
Content type:
Civil architecture
Province: Sassari
Common: Alghero
Macro Territorial Area: Northern Sardinia
POSTAL CODE: 07041
Address: piazza Civica, 32
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