Liberty in Catania

With liberty in Catania we mean the dominant architectural style in the city of Etna in the first decade of the twentieth century, although very contaminated by eclecticism.

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 Palermo and Turin, initially as “new art”, declining the term directly from the French and this calls for reflection as much in Italy and France as 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.

Basile and Fichera
The first liberty architects in Catania were Ernesto Basile (Villa Manganelli) and his pupil Francesco Fichera (Villa Majorana, Villa Miranda, Sport Club, Villa Scannapieco, Tringali Palace, Palazzo delle Poste, Villa Fichera, De Felice Institute, Villa Finocchiaro and Garage Musmeci). From the father Filadelfo Fichera is the Arena Pacini.

Malerba
Tommaso Malerba was influenced by the taste of French and German Liberty. The works in his signature are the Exhibition Palace, the largest Octagon, the kiosk Inserra, the palace Marano Giuffrida, the Mazzone Palace, the Palace Duke of Camastra, the house Abate and Frigeri Shop.

Sada
Works by the architect Carlo Sada are the Torre Alessi, the Massimo Vincenzo Bellini Theater, the Agatino Russo e figli Jewelery, the Clementi Clinic, the Morosoli villa and the Palazzo Pancari Ferreri.

Lanzerotti
Eclectic works with Art Nouveau elements such as the Swiss Brewery, the Gran Caffè Lorenti, the Farnè villa, the D’Ayala villa, the Citelli villa and the Priolo villa were designed by Paolo Lanzerotti.

Other architects
The Ardizzone villa in eclectic-Art Nouveau style was designed by the architect Carmelo Malerba Guerrieri, Palazzo Rosa in an eclectic Art Nouveau architecture, by Fabio Majorana and Villa Schinina di Sant’Elia by Giuseppe Schinina di Sant’Elia by the architect Bernardo Gentile -Cuse. Sangiorgi Theater by the architect Salvatore Giuffrida.

Source from Wikipedia