Walking with Isabella
Guided Tour and performance theatrically dramatized in costume
Isabella Filomarino dei Principi di Roccadaspide, was a woman of great virtue, born in Naples (?) in 1605 (?) by Tommaso,
narrowly connected with the archbishop Ascanio Filomarino. Her character is known mostly through theatrical representations,
and through the study of literary works, fashionable at the time. At only 17 years old she marries the vassal most feared
by the rebels of southern of Italy, Giangirolamo II Acquaviva of Aragon, the “Guercio of the Puglies”. Transfering to the
castle of Acquaviva he becomes a promoter, with his consort, of pious works of charity and a buyer of some of the most
beautiful works of art in Conversano.
Concerned with the education of young girls of the noble families, leads Isabella to develop the conservatory of S. Leonardo
near the Church of St. Leonardo entrusted to the rule of the third order of S. Domenico. The large number of young women in
attendance, forces Donna Isabella to provide other accommodations, giving to the pupils the convent and the Church of St. Joseph.
In these same years she births five children. Cosimo, the first-born, is for her “a miracle”: he would have been lost,
in fact, if not for the grace of the Santi Medici Cosma and Damiano (the event is still disputed), for which, the devotion
of Donna Isabella leads to the transformation of the church of S. Matteo, with the aid of the most capable artists of the
kingdom, into the splendid Church of the SSs. Cosma and Damiano.
In the court are received the most illustrious personalities of the time, in the rooms of the “fourth of the gallery” where beautiful
shows of tapestries, statues and paintings, including the series “Jerusalem Delivered” of Paul Finoglio, a celebration of the illustrious
lineage that had welcomed Torquato Tasso, whom she had known in Naples, and had written in the last years of his life the sonnet:
“In it praises of the house Acquaviva”.
It is in this period that Isabella shows all of her internal strength. While her husband languishes in the jails of the king of Spain,
she reveals her charm and with the nobility of the court that had honored her home, she asks help for her husband, selling a portion
of his jewelry and assuming for herself the rule of the county. Devoted to the Virgin of Carmelo, she initiates the building of the
Church of Carmine which is given to the Carmelitanes. At her death, the nuns had a portrait made in her memory.
Where: Churches of St. Leonardo, St. Cosma, St. Joseph, Castle and Pinacoteca
When: In summer, in the placard of the events of Armida. Always, on booking (min. 40 participants).
