A refined palimpsest of Renaissance architectural culture
The house, which has been profoundly transformed over the centuries, preserves an important trace of the activity of Giovan Battista Lucifero, who belonged to a family of skilled stonemasons and architects from Gerace in contact with the main representatives of the artistic scene of Messina at the end of the sixteenth century.
It is the entry gate to the family residence, built in local stone, which houses a complex and articulated figurative palimpsest based on the desire to raise his profile by presenting himself not as a simple master executor, but as an educated architect.
The decoration is concentrated in the keystone, in the capitals and in the bases of the jambs.
The keystone houses the coat of arms, surrounded by the name and title of the client-author, and contains the construction date of 1614.
In correspondence with the jambs, there are four blocks sculpted in relief.
The lower ones are decorated with two masks, whose grotesque expressions allude to tragedy and comedy. The upper ones are characterized by the depiction of architect's tools and contain plaques, on which the names of the main architectural treatise writers are engraved, from Vitruvius to Vignola.