The priest-architect of fortifications

TOMASO MARIA NAPOLI

A Dominican friar’s contribution to military architecture in the Baroque age

Author: Denis De Lucca

Publisher: International Institute for Baroque Studies. University of Malta / 2015

Extent: 254pp

Originally baptized as Francesco Tomaso Antonio de Napoli, and subsequently known as Tomaso Maria Napoli, the subject of this monograph was born in Palermo in April 1659 to a well-to-do silversmith.

When he was 16, he joined the Dominican fathers and received a thorough grounding in mathematics.

In 1685 he went to Rome, at that time dominated by Carlo Fontana and in 1687 went to Vienna. By then, he had written two books on architecture, stressing the importance of mathematical applications in the construction of fortifications.

In July 1689, he was invited to Dubrovnik where he was consulted on reinforcing the fortifications of the city and the restoration of the cathedral and two palaces.

When he first arrived in Vienna, he joined the imperial army as a chaplain and experienced the harshness of war in what became known as the Second Battle of Mohacks in August 1687 lost by the Ottomans with the loss of some 10,000 soldiers, a bitter blow to the Ottoman Empire.

In 1667, Dubrovnik (then known as Ragusa) had experienced a terrible earthquake with the loss of 5,000 persons. Five years before Napoli arrived, the city had passed from Ottoman hands to the Austrian empire.

As stated, Napoli became involved in the reconstruction of the city.

In 1711, the friar arrived back in Palermo where he was to stay until his death in 1725. Although he was appointed as Architetto Militare, he was more involved in the construction of two very beautiful baroque villas in the suburb of Bagheria – Villa Valguarnera and Villa Palagonia.

The book mentions two rather tenuous links with Malta, although it may be that he actually visited Malta between 1722 and 1725.

The first link with Malta consists in his dedication of his first book to Don Antonio Carafa, the cousin of Grand Master Gregorio Carafa and the hero of the capture of Belgrade from the Ottomans in 1688.

The second link consists of a handwritten margin note of a copy of his book which seems to have been kept at the Dominican friary in Vittoriosa and which seems to say that Napoli visited Malta and discussed with the Order’s architect Charles Francois de Mondion on an improvement to be made at the bastion flanks of the Margherita Lines in Cottonera.