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ALEANDRI, Ireneo - b. 1795 San Severino Marche, d. 1885 Macerata - WGA

ALEANDRI, Ireneo

(b. 1795 San Severino Marche, d. 1885 Macerata)

Italian architect. He studied at the Accademia di San Luca in Rome. In his youth, he completed a number of restorations and buildings in his native town, including a restoration of the Porta di San Lorenzo (1820), the Teatro Feronia (1823), and the church of San Paolo (1828), the church of San Michele (1830), and the Torre dell’Orologio in the Piazza del Popolo (1832). His masterpiece is the Sferisterio di Macerata (completed in 1829).

He moved to Spoleto where he designed the Teatro Nuovo (1853). He also designed the Teatro Ventidio Basso di Ascoli Piceno (1839) and the viaduct of Ariccia.

Exterior view
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Exterior view

The Sferisterio is an open-air stadium or sphaeristerium in Macerata, constructed by Ireneo Aleandri. It is a sport arena big enough for 10.000 spectators. The architect opted for inspiration from the theatres and arenas of antiquity. His design is an arch-shaped enclosure terminating in rectangular structures. The rows of arches on the exterior with niches and oculi in between draw on cinquecento motifs, while the interior, with its tall Doric colonnade over three stories, is indebted to classical models as interpreted by Palladio.

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Interior view
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Interior view

The Sferisterio is the venue of the annual Macerata Opera Festival.

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Interior view
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Interior view

The Sferisterio is the venue of the annual Macerata Opera Festival.

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Viaduct
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Viaduct

Admiration for the fine engineering achievements of Roman Antiquity found expression in mid-19th-century functional architecture. The three-tier arching of the viaduct across a deep valley to Ariccia near Rome, built by Ireneo Aleandri between 1847 and 1854 during Pius IX’s papacy, clearly emulates classical aqueducts.

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