Domenica Sutera

The Steri in Palermo came into being as an imposing urban residential building, a house-fortress of the Chiaramontes, a prestigious family that linked its name to the chequered political vicissitudes of Sicily in the fourteenth century. The degree of representativeness reached by the building in the course of time was such as to make the building a symbol of power, being at different times the place of private, royal, viceroyal, religious and economic authority for about four centuries. The denominations of Osterio (from the old French oster) and Hospicium or patrician abode in themselves manifest the desire for self-representation at the basis of the architectural project of this urban, monumental and isolated residence. The particular position of the building confirms the aspirations to prestige of the Chiaramontes in their dwelling in the island capital. The area chosen was between the gate of the Muslim citadel of the Kalsa and the San Nicolò dei Latini church (13th century; demolished following the 1823 earthquake) and consisted in an embankment, a natural confine between the earth and the sea (the present-day Piazza Marina), which sloped down towards the old Cala harbour to the east, while on the opposite side it opened up towards an urban void to be reclaimed and used for gardens and vineyards. The existing documentary sources report the acquisition in emphyteusis of the land, at the time free of buildings, on 2 February 1306 by Giovanni Chiaramonte the Elder, the promoter of the new building. Other influential personalities with the same surname are also linked to the construction vicissitudes of the building: Manfredi I, Giovanni's brother, actively busy in the Sicilian cause during the Vespers revolt; Giovanni II, Count of Modica and Caccamo, also the holder of the prestigious position of Captain of Justice in Palermo; Manfredi III, great admiral and viceroy after the death of King Frederick; and finally Andrea, whose public execution in 1392 in front of his own residence in Piazza Marina for betrayal to the crown enacted the definitive decline of the family, with the consequent forfeiture of Steri by the Royal Demesne.
According to what is reported by the most recent historiography, the chronological references linked to the construction of the building are full of uncertainties due to lack of precise documentary sources. If the date of the start of the work is sure, lying at all events between 1308 and 1344, as also the realization of the painted ceiling wooden in the great room or room of the barons, on the piano nobile, done between 1377 and 1380 (according to what is stated by the inscriptions present), the times of continuation of the work until 1392 still today remain undefined, though it seems it went on without a break throughout the century and longer.