Piazza Quattro Canti (Piazza Vigliena) - Palermo

Piazza Vigliena. 1608th century The Quattro Canti is an octagonal square, the crossroads between the two main road axes of Palermo: Via Maqueda and Cassaro (now known as Corso Vittorio Emanuele). The square is also known as Piazza Vigliena (in homage to the Viceroy Marquis don Juan Fernandez Pacheco de Vigliena y Ascalon), but ancient sources remember it as Ottangolo or Teatro del Sole because during the day at least one of the architectural scenes is illuminated by the Sun. The Viceroy in 1617 entrusted the urban planning of that crossroads to the Florentine architect Giulio Lasso. The works lasted for many years. The project was inspired by the crossroads of the Quattro Fontane in Rome, designed by the urban planners of Sixtus V, even if in the Quattro Canti there is a much richer decorative form, already signaling a first element of differentiation of the Sicilian Baroque. After the death of Giulio Lasso, the work was continued by Mariano Smiriglio who became construction manager in 1661, after having worked on the construction site under the Lasso's employ. With Mariano Smiriglio there is a change in the initial decorative program: in the upper order, which originally should have housed the statues of the sovereigns, the statues of the four Palermo holy virgins are arranged: Santa Cristina, Santa Ninfa, Sant'Oliva and Sant 'Agate. The current marble statues present at the Quattro Canti were sculpted between 1663 and 1630 by Carlo Aprile. After XNUMX work began for the construction of the four fountains with the statues of the Four Seasons: Spring and Summer were made by Gregorio Tedeschi; Autumn and Winter by Nunzio La Mattina. The current lower basins of the four fountains are from the nineteenth century and were built to hide the original ones with the floor of the square that had been lowered

Card insertion: Ignatius Caloggero

Photo: Ignazio Caloggero

Information contributions: Ignazio Caloggero, Web 

Property included in the Multimedia Archive of Esoteric Cultural Heritage

The property has been recognised as a property that could present characteristics attributable to theCultural EsotericismGroup belonging: A

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The assets entered in the archive are divided into three groups, based on their level of recognition and documentation:

• Group A – Well signposted: This includes cultural assets identified as potentially esoteric. This is an initial observation phase, during which the asset is studied, compared with sources, and critically evaluated.
• Group B – Recognized asset: It includes assets for which there are reliable studies and documentation attesting to their belonging to the Esoteric Cultural Heritage, but which are not yet accompanied by the complete esoteric profile.
• Group C – Well documented: It contains fully recognized and analyzed items, accompanied by a detailed esoteric description illustrating their symbolic meanings, interpretations, and historical-cultural context. This is the most advanced level of documentation within the archive.

To ensure rigor and interpretative consistency, the archive is based on a rigorous methodology aimed at avoiding the indiscriminate inclusion of cultural assets. To this end, specific criteria are adopted: recognition tools and a classification system, illustrated in the project Archive of Cultural Esotericism, described on the external site Experiential itineraries, to which we refer for further methodological information.