In order to complete the architectural finishings of the main vestibule of the Palazzo of the Ministeries of State, a commission was made to the sculptor Antonio Calì (Catania 1789 - Naples 1866) for four statues portraying Ruggero II of Altavilla and Federico II of Swabia, two sovereigns who had determined the political and cultural character of the southern Kingdom of Italy, and Ferdinando I and Francesco I of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the kings who had respectively seen the beginning and the completion of the work on the palazzo.
The statues of the first two were placed in the niches just inside the entrance, while the other two in niches at the sides of the first flights parallel to the main staircase. Below each statue was a plaque with a latin inscription written by Canon Francesco Rossi.
The four statues statues were left to perform their commemorative role for thirty-five years, then with the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, it was considered that the presence in the palazzo of two sham images of the recently dethroned dynasty could no longer be tolerated.
So it was that the marble ferdinando and Francesco were removed and replaced with two allegorical female figures by a fr less artically skilled hand to that of Calì. Naturally, the Bourbon tablets were also removed and replaced by simple coat of white plaster.
Area Cultura e Turismo Servizio Beni Culturali - Archivio Storico Municipale
Salita Pontenuovo, 31 - 80139 Napoli
e-mail: archivi.storici.biblioteche@comune.napoli.it
pec: archivi.biblioteche@pec.comune.napoli.it
Go to the insciptions on the removed tablets