Vedute inedite di Messina nell'Ottocento. Filippo Juvarra, la città e i monumenti scomparsi

F. MARTORANOVEDUTE INEDITE DI MESSINA DELL’OTTOCENTO: FILIPPO JUVARRA, LA CITTÀ E I MONUMENTI SCOMPARSIThree unpublished views of Messina, drew in une 1826 by the “peintre paysagiste” Prosper Barbot, provide the opportunity to reflect on the city outlook at the beginning of the nineteenth century and on the work by Filippo Juvarra. Messina maintains unchanged its historical background and its monuments, in spite of the earthquake in 1783. The subsequent earthquake of 1908, and the rebuilders’ choices, will instead make the historical city disappear. These new iconographies allow a topographic rebuilding, an urban dimension and the monuments outlook in the recostruction period after 1783.The view of the monastery and the church of the St. Gregorio is full of unknown details, due to the perspective taken out of the town walls. The bell-tower drawing, to be related to the architectural fancies and drawings by Filippo Juvarra, attributes to the famous architect the unusual spiral solution of the cusp. This attribution is moreover supported by the analysis of the location in an urban area.