Spolia e spazi urbani nel Rinascimento meridionale. Alcune riflessioni sulla committenza di Orso Orsini, conte di Nola

The recent shift away from a monarchic-centric perspective in scholarship has
led to a more balanced consideration of the role played by barons in the
Aragonese Kingdom. Drawing on the Nolan humanist Ambrogio Leone’s Nola
patria, printed in Venice in 1514, this paper explores the patronage of Orso
Orsini (d. 1479). Orsini was the count of Nola and duke of Ascoli, as well as a
capable and esteemed condottiere and prominent politician in fifteenth-century
Italy. The paper focuses in particular on the public square of Nola and its setting
up all’antica with Roman spolia. It offers some reflections on the process of
construction involved in realizing Orsini’s ideas and also shows the inclusion of
the Count of Nola in the cultural networks through which humanistic ideals
were spread.