0000000000938696
AUTHOR
Enrico Saeli
Analytical studies of the Sirocco room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri: A XVI century passive cooling structure in Palermo (Sicily)
Abstract This work focuses on a passive cooling architecture particularly popular from the Renaissance in Palermo area, as building sumptuous suburban villas became a real hobby for the Sicilian aristocracy. A Sirocco room is an artificial subterranean construction, built close to a water spring in order to reproduce the pleasant conditions of freshness that could be experienced in a natural cavern. In these places, nobles used to spend their time with friends to escape from the hot summer. The room of Villa Naselli-Ambleri is nowadays the best preserved in Palermo thanks to its owners’ conservation care and it is unique for its cooling operating principle. The above-mentioned consideration…
The sirocco chambers: passive cooling structures in the XVI century Palermo area
In the past centuries, the plain surrounding the city of Palermo saw the construction of tens of suburban manor houses, called villas, which were referred to as “places of delight” for the amenities they offered during the good season. These architectural machines were built by aristocrats to make living in the countryside more pleasant and to exhibit their families’ richness and power. Among the delights, the Sirocco rooms were very common in Palermo from the Renaissance, and especially beyond to the XVIII century. They were artificial subterranean structures, built close to a water spring in order to reproduce the pleasant conditions of freshness that could be experienced in a natural cav…
Luoghi di delizie nella Palermo del XVI secolo. Il caso di villa Naselli-Ambleri.
di Ambleri per sovrintendere una vasta proprietà agricola. Dal XVI secolo questa struttura rurale iniziò ad essere ingentilita secondo canoni rinascimen- tali per diventare una nobile casena suburbana per la delizia dei suoi proprie- tari che, ieri come oggi, erano soliti intrattenersi «con cavalieri e dame, amici e parenti, [nella] comodissima e faustosa stanza» dello Scirocco. Dalle prime fonti alle ultime modifiche del XX secolo, si analizzano le fasi evolutive del complesso architettonico che rappresenta oggi un caso di buona conservazione dei beni culturali privati a Palermo.