Pisa Museo Aperto

Location(s)

The group of buildings known as Palazzo Alliata is to be found in the Chinzica district, on the left bank of the Arno between the churches of Santa Cristina and Santa Maria Maddalena, now called Lungarno Gambacorti. In the 11th and 12th centuries the area between these two churches saw a remarkable urban development. Here the two groups of buildings, which later were joined together in order to create this palazzo, are situated. The presence of several towers, houses and case-torri in this area, between the 11th and 12th centuries, finds reference in the archives. This intense building development has been unveiled thanks to archaeological excavations near the church of Santa Cristina. These buildings show evident aristocratic characteristics which point to the mercantile gentry of Pisa in the early Communal period (12th century). The main noble families in Pisa owned buildings in the area surrounding the aforementioned church, such as the Marignani family, the Sismondi family and the Del Cane family who are to be found in the archival sources of 1150 and 1151, of 1185, 1196 and 1197. The 1200s represent the period of greatest demographic increase and urban development of the city. At this time a true rush to lay hands on the spaces along the main streets of the city took place. Owing to all of this, in that period the phenomenon of creating a single building from a group of buildings and the use of common walls was spreading. On the Lungarno the buildings of the main mercantile noble families which had financial interests linked to maritime trade gathered, while in the internal streets the workshops of the small and medium-sized merchants, of the notaries and the craftsmen were to be found. Even Palazzo Alliata was born, as most of the palazzi on the Lungarni in Pisa, by turning a group of existing buildings into a single building, in this case there were two main buildings. This palazzo went through various architectural and stylistic changes until the final appearance both structurally and artistically was reached in the 1600s. This complex process began at the end of the 1200s, continued in the following century and still persisted in the 1500s, when several main sections were combined so as to unite the roofs, the entrance flights of steps and the façades in order to give a consistent appearance to the complex.

Probably the Alliata family arrived in Pisa towards the middle of the 1200s, from the neighbouring Calcinaia, where they already had an important social position. This same family were protagonists of a rapid financial and social ascent thanks to maritime trade and investments in Sardinia, especially in Iglesias and Cagliari. They were also protagonists of an intense political activity, but above all they were capable of creating a dense network of financial and mercantile relationships, and also international contacts especially with the merchants from Catalonia. After the city fell to the Florentines, the Alliata family, as many other important families in Pisa, chose to move abroad together with their household, goods and finances. At that time, the preferred place for many noble families from Pisa was Sicily, where for centuries Pisan merchants had important commercial and financial interests. Thus, in the beginning of the 1400s, many members of the Alliata family moved to Palermo, where they prospered thanks to trade, banking activities, but also to vast estates, and to important administrative and honorary offices. For example, Gerardo, besides being a merchant and a land owner, was also a jurist and a prothonotary of the Reign in 1455, while Giacomo, Baron of Castellammare from 1494, was maestro razionale (auditor), and a close collaborator of Viceroy Ugo Moncada.

The Alliata family in Sicily maintained contact with their birthplace, where several branches of the family still lived, but not as wealthy as in the past, but in general they were still part of the upper class, as their political offices, relationship with the ecclesiastic bodies and the size of their estates bore witness. The Alliata family counted several members amongst the priori, had relations with the Opera della Primiziale and with the Order of the Knights of St Stephen. In 1623, for example, Giovanni Filippo di Gherardo joined the Knights of the Order. A skilful marriage policy allowed the family to increase the size of their estates, especially in Maremma. Thus thanks to the marriage between Ascanio Tommaso Alliata and Maria Elena Campiglia, celebrated in 1720, the family acquired vast estates in Maremma. In 1782 Francesco Alliata was commended by Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo to the Order of the Knights of St Stephen.