The site where the
Spinola Palace sits today was originally occupied by a smaller palace - Palazzo
Spinola. This was built for Fra Paolo Raffaele Spinola as a retreat in
1688. The Italian Knight served as Admiral of the Fleet, Grand Prior
of Lombardy, Ambassador Extraordinaire to the Courts of Rome and Spain and
Receiver General of the illustrious Order. The grand palace we know
today was built in 1733 to satisfy the requirements of Bailiff Fra Giovanni
Battista Spinola, Paolo Raffaele’s nephew. The Bailiff commissioned
Romano Carapecchia to transform the small palace into a majestic building with
a new façade, large rooms and a grand hall. Considering the
project’s context, being still undeveloped in 1733, Romano Carapecchia was
assigned a rather difficult task given the impact the building’s extension
would have had. Carapecchia took the opportunity to make a statement
with the design of a new grand palace that dominated its surroundings while
overlooking Spinola Bay. The palace was completely different when
compared to other palaces dating to the seventeenth and eighteenth century
built in the Maltese countryside. None of these were as grand or
dominant as the Spinola Palace. Carapecchia’s approach reflected
contemporary attitudes in the rest of Europe in an attempt to achieve a
dialogue between buildings and open spaces. Carapecchia was
successful in providing Fra Giovanni Battista Spinola with an exclusive
property reaching aristocratic ideas.
The building’s plan is
straightforward and is evolved around a central hall spanning the whole width
of the building, flanked by two large rooms and a staircase leading to the
piano nobile. A number of false windows were introduced on the façade not
to disturb the symmetrical composition, which was an important feature in the
Baroque style. A large number of tall windows were introduced on the façade
to admit natural light into the building. The façade is adorned with
scroll motifs, plain corner pilasters and a variety of banded apertures on
either side of an elaborately decorated centrepiece with a carved clock and the
Spinola family’s coat of arms. An axially planned garden, lying within
the palace’s grounds, is enclosed by a high perimeter wall.
A visual and photographic
inspection of the site was carried out in order to ascertain and record the
condition of the building so that a proper conservation strategy could be
formulated. It was noted that the cement based renders were causing damage to
the underlying stone and therefore the removal of the said render had to be
done; once removed the condition of the underlying stone was assessed and the
stone is being either plastic repaired or replaced. In both cases the finished
restoration intervention will be similar to the original stone fabric.
Delaminating stone was also observed during the inspection, this existed in two
types. In the first instance pieces of cement based rendered detached from the
facade pulling back parts of the stone with it. In this case the cement is
being removed and not reattached. The other type is where the stone itself
detaches from the facade. Where the delaminated stone is found in a sound
condition it is being reattached to the facade, in the original position using
an epoxy based grout and reinforced with carbon fibre dowels. Epoxy resin is
also being used for the injection of cracks following the removal of metal
inserts. Stones which were exhibiting alveolar weathering are being conserved
using a hydraulic lime based plastic repair mix. This is being done similar to
the stone in colour and texture. Similarly, hacked stone as well as stone which
were mechanically damaged are being conserved using plastic repair techniques.
Areas of black crust that persisted following dry and wet brushing are being
treated with poultices.
Timber apertures are
being restored and were missing or irreparable are being replaced with a new
aperture of the same type. Metal gates are also being restored where possible
or being replaced where the metal works is beyond repair. The reconstruction of
the missing crown on the clock frontispiece of the palace’s courtyard elevation
is also being done, details of this were available in the original elevation of
the facade of the Spinola Palace by Romano Carapecchia.