Palermo
Baroque octagonal crossroads, four facades of kings and saints, theatre of the sun, crossroads of old Palermo.
Photograph · Quattro Canti
At a glance
Names, makers, dates, and context before the story opens up.
| What it is | Square |
|---|---|
| Where | Palermo, Sicily |
| Known for | Baroque octagonal crossroads, four facades of kings and saints, theatre of the sun, crossroads of old Palermo |
The story
Where Palermo's two main streets cross, four identical Baroque facades stack fountains, kings and patron saints into an octagonal room of city. Locals call it the Theatre of the Sun, since one facade is always lit.
Each statement below is linked to the record or institution that supports it.
Quattro Canti is the common name for Piazza Vigliena, the coordinated Baroque urban ensemble created at the intersection of Via Maqueda and Via Vittorio Emanuele in Palermo. It is a square and four corner façades, not a single freestanding building.1
Piazza Vigliena's first arrangement was completed in 1620 under the Spanish viceroy after whom it is named, following the opening of Via Maqueda in 1600. The new crossing divided the city into four Mandamenti: Capo or Monte di Pietà, Albergheria or Palazzo Reale, Kalsa or Tribunali, and Loggia or Castellammare.1
Construction of the four curved corners began in 1608 to a design by Giulio Lasso, continued under Mariano Smiriglio, and was completed in 1621. The City describes them as cut stone with Billiemi-stone details.1
Each façade is organized in superimposed Doric, Ionic, and Composite orders. The lower level carries figures of the Seasons, the middle level four Spanish kings, and the upper level the female patron saints associated with the four Mandamenti: Oliva, Cristina, Agata, and Ninfa.1
The City records that the middle-order royal statues were originally bronze and were replaced by the current Carrara-marble statues in 1661. In 1856, lower street levels for drainage led to the addition of a basin beneath each fountain.1
The City uses the name Teatro del Sole for Quattro Canti because, in every season, at least one of its four façades is touched by sunlight. This is a municipal interpretive name, not a second formal monument or a claim about a continuous all-day effect.1,2
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