Villa Zanchi-Capitaneo
Villa Zanchi-Capitaneo, or more commonly Villa Zanchi, bound by the Superintendency of Cultural Heritage, is an ancient masseria and stately villa in Bari, located on a hill south of the Palese district - currently the oldest house in the district [1 ] - and overlooking via Modugno (the road that once connected Palese to Modugno), about twenty meters from the SS16. Given the moderate height at which it is located, from its highest point it is possible to see the surrounding territories for a radius of twenty kilometers, and in good weather part of the Alta Murgia. The work falls into the category of courtyard farms with adjoining chapel, the result of a series of structures from different periods distributed around a courtyard, forming two L-shaped arms, one to the north and the other to the east. The courtyard is surrounded by a wall, as usual in fortified farms. A garden of about 22 thousand square meters (220 ares) with pine forest, orchards, almond groves, vineyards, olive groves surrounding the villa is what remains of the vast estates that existed in the past. To the primordial watchtower with scarp walls, perhaps erected in the sixteenth century and still visible in the north-east corner of the building, some rooms were added in the late eighteenth century, together with the Church of Santa Maria del Rosario which forms an appendix parallelepiped to the north-west of the building. These first rooms in the north are two barrel-vaulted rooms used as a cellar and warehouse. The intervention commissioned by Vincenzo Zanchi (late 1700s) was significant: the northern part of the building was renovated, including the church, and the eastern part was almost completely rebuilt, with a terrace and pergola loggia on the first floor, overlooking the courtyard. The villa externally shows the late Baroque style, with the façades in warm limestone tuff. The side and rear elevations are each characterized by four deep recessed arches that house French windows; on the ground floor the pillars are covered in rustic ashlar. In the front elevation, on the other hand, on the upper floor, the characteristic pergola loggia stands out supported by a shaped stone parapet, and set on pilasters with pilasters, which mark five archways of different widths ; the central fornix is surmounted by a gentle bell tower. On the crowning molding, in correspondence with the pillars of the loggia, there are amphorae in glazed terracotta, while at the corners of the same there are symmetrical pinnacles with a corner equipped with slits. The interiors of the first floor, once inhabited by the owners, made up of seven communicating rooms all pavilion vaulted, with an umbrella rosette connected by a geometric square with mirrors containing medallions. The vaulted ceilings are painted in tempera (paintings made at the end of the 19th century) in light tones, with plant motifs. In the medallions, on the other hand, landscapes or floral motifs can be admired.
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