With Liberty in Messina means the variation of the style liberty although heavily influenced by ‘ eclecticism and developed during the reconstruction following the devastating earthquake of December 28, 1908 that leveled the city. After the decision to rebuild Messina, many architects and engineers arrived in the city, many of whom presented themselves with new ideas that, in the following decade, profoundly influenced the architecture of Messina with the construction of buildings elaborated in an eclectic language that was well connected and integrated with the Art Nouveau. Thus Messina built the first buildings in eclectic and Art Nouveau style that still influence the urban design with a rich architectural heritage, testimony of liberty and eclecticism, in Sicily.
Historical background
The transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century in Europe was characterized by a fervent renewal of artistic expressions certainly influenced by technical progress and by the enthusiastic positivist exaltation of the important goals achieved by science. The evolutions of the artistic avant-garde of the late nineteenth century first involved applied arts, assuming different names according to geographical areas: in the French-speaking area it took the name of Art Nouveau, in Germany Jugendstil, in Austria Sezessionstil, Modern Style in Great Britain and Modernism in Spain.
In Italy the new trend was established in the major Italian cities, with the highest prevalence in Turin and Milan, initially as “new art”, declining the term directly from the French and this calls for reflection in Italy and France more than in the rest of Europe the name of this new style did not come from that strong desire to break with the past and with the academic tradition. In the national context this new current, which later assumed the name of « floral style», Never consolidated in a real Italian school of reference but it was established, albeit with a slight delay compared to the major European countries, living its maximum splendor in the early twentieth century. In this first decade of the twentieth century and following the editions of the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative Arts in Turin, in fact, we can speak of ” liberty “, a term that was more widely affirmed in the complex and variegated national architectural panorama deriving from the famous warehouses Londoners of Arthur Lasenby Liberty, among the first to expose and disseminate taste objects and prints exotic that sported the typical sinuous shapes of this new style.
In central and southern Italy the liberty did not reach the most francesizing evolutions of Turin or sometimes exasperated in Milan but was strongly influenced by the emotive eclecticism, giving life to a liberty much more contaminated but nevertheless of appreciable architectural interest.
Gino Coppedè in Messina
Even before the Palermo Ernesto Basile arrived in Messina the Florentine Gino Coppedè, whose major interventions focused on Corso Garibaldi, the main artery of the city in the twentieth century and around which the most prestigious architectures were concentrated. In addition to the palace of the Marquis Loteta, there are two more blocks designed by Coppedè. Once the Corso Garibaldi was restored, Coppedè took care of the projects for the Piazza del Duomo and the most famous palace there; Palazzo Zodiaco. Palazzo Zodiaco, with its decorations that recall the Middle Ages and the eclecticism typical of the Coppedè, is unique in its kind and makes it one of the most appreciated, as it has also become one of the main landmarks of the city, for its location. One of the maximum works of Coppedè in Messina is Palazzo Tremi (or Palazzo del Gallo), which has different characteristics from previous buildings.
Other works of eclectic style
Other important ones to remember are the palaces located in via Cardines, which even if they have less impressive and superb architectural figures, are unique for their kind: Palazzo Api and the Coppedè palace, recognizable by the large tile with the Lion of St. Mark (destroyed) and the unmistakable eagle inserted in the railings of the balconies. The Cerruti Bisazza palace, recognizable by the unmistakable Maghen David (or “Star of David”), inserted in the balcony railings. The Magaudda Palace, located in Via Cesare Battisti, with decorations in concrete formwork and polychrome graffito drawings.
Camillo Puglisi Allegra
In the aftermath of the earthquake, the works of the Camillus Camillus Puglisi Allegra were important, but particularly the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele III, which after the one in Naples is the most important in the South and better reflects the eclecticism of Camillo Puglisi Allegra.
Other
In addition to the palaces of the most famous architects, Messina is known for the other numerous buildings and in particular for those in pure Art Nouveau style and with floral and post-floral decorations by artists from Messina and elsewhere, such as the Palazzo della Dogana del Messinese Lo Cascio, and the Grancamposanto of the Messina Leone Savoia.
Eclectic works with liberty elements such as the Government building, were also designed by Cesare Bazzani.
Source from Wikipedia