Da castello a palazzo: la residenza dei De Torres a Pizzoli (L’Aquila)

This contribution aims to contextualise the story of the extra-urban residence of the aristocratic Spanish and naturalised Roman De Torres; champions of Christianity at Lepanto (1571) settled permanently in L'Aquila from 1568, within a careful policy of relations between the Papacy and the Spanish Crown. The first contribution by Robotti in 1988 (The Villa Palazzo De Torres Dragonetti in Pizzoli) followed by Del Tosto in 2010 (Palazzo Dragonetti De Torres in Pizzoli and the noble residences fortified with towers) paved the way for the reinterpretation of an architectural phenomenon in which the social demands of an era such as that of transition between the end of the sixteenth century and the early seventeenth century converged: the representation of one's own power and feudal role in which military strength (expressed by the characteristics of the buildings and the urban context) and the noble and cultural prestige expressed by the internal layout converged. The expansion of the documentation found also allows us to better specify the chronologies and events of the Castle also with a view to a more complete exegesis of the theme of extra-urban residential life in Abruzzo of which the fortified palaces constitute an aspect.