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Architect of the Palazzo Gallone (1661)
House of Gallone Princes of Tricase · the family coat of arms Personage · House of Gallone · 1st Prince of Tricase
Stefano II Gallone.
1st Prince of Tricase, 1601 – 1662.
Central figure of the House of Gallone: in twenty-five years he vastly enlarges the feudal domain and, in 1651, raises Tricase to the rank of Principality, giving rise to the princely line.
Biography.
On the premature death of his brother Alessandro II (1598–1623), 4th Baron of Tricase, Stefano II succeeds him as 5th Baron of Tricase in 1623. He brings to completion the work of his predecessors — enlargement of the domain, consolidation of power and social ascent of the house — which culminates in the princely status: the title of Prince of Tricase is granted to him in 1651 by Philip IV, King of Spain.
A central figure for the history of the Gallone, Stefano II manages, within twenty-five years, to enlarge considerably the feudal patrimony: the barony of Tiggiano (1627); the casale of Supersano with the Belvedere Wood, 12,000 hectares (1640); the casale of Caprarica del Capo (1644); the fiefs of Salve and of the rest of Tutino (1648); the fief of Miggiano (1660) and part of the fief of Nociglia (1662).
He also becomes 7th Baron of Specchia Gallone, a title that came to him through the succession of his brothers Antonio Giovanni († 1628) and Francesco Antonio († 1635).
The leap from Baron to Prince rests on a solid economic base and on a financial operation conducted with the Viceroy of Naples. Stefano II possessed all the prerequisites: a feudatory faithful to the Spanish Crown, he had in Naples several mercantile agencies and solid capital, deriving from commercial revenues and from loans at interest. It was this combination of fidelity and means that made possible, in 1651, the grant of the Principality.
It is to Stefano II that we owe, in 1661, the building of the central body of the Palazzo Gallone, the princely castle that still dominates today the historic square of Tricase. The oldest parts — the Tower and the Keep, of 14th-century structures — are thus integrated into a dwelling that is at once palace and feudal castle.
Around 1636 Stefano II marries Caterina Guarini (1616–1683), of the Dukes of Poggiardo. On his death, in 1662, he is succeeded by his son Alessandro III (1638–1675), 2nd Prince of Tricase. The title would then be transmitted along the main Gallone line down to Maria Bianca Gallone (10th Princess, 1895–1982), last of the House.
Family tree.
Gallery
The princely castle
