Agostino Sieri Pepoli

Agostino Sieri Pepoli (5 August 1848 – 1910) was an Italian nobleman and patron from Trapani, Sicily. He is best known for creating the Balio Gardens at Erice in the 1870s and for founding the civic museum in Trapani that later became the Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli.[1][2]

Life

Sieri Pepoli was born in Trapani on 5 August 1848, the son of Riccardo Sieri Pepoli and Elisabetta Alagna, members of the Sicilian branch of the Pepoli family.[3] The family were prominent landowners associated with the local salt pans and philanthropy in Trapani; his father Riccardo, a former mayor, was linked to the foundation of the Ospizio (Marino) Sieri Pepoli for needy children.[4][5] After travelling widely in Europe for study and collecting, he spent long periods in Bologna in the late nineteenth century.[6]

Philanthropy

In the 1870s Sieri Pepoli obtained a concession over the medieval Balio Towers at Erice and laid out the landscaped Balio Gardens. The gardens are part of the Grandi Giardini Italiani network.[7] He also built the neo-Gothic Pepoli Turret (1872–1880) as a quiet retreat and a venue for cultural exchange, hosting writers, scholars and musicians of the period.[8][9]

Drawing on his private collections, he founded Trapani’s civic museum in 1906–1908; it is today the Museo regionale Agostino Pepoli.[10] In Bologna he acquired part of Palazzo Pepoli Vecchio and portions of the family archive; by testament these were left to the Comune di Bologna for public use and display.[11][12]

References

  1. ^ "La morte di Agostino Sieri Pepoli". Biblioteca Salaborsa – Bologna Online (in Italian). 21 March 1910. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  2. ^ "Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale "Agostino Pepoli" – Edificio". Regione Siciliana (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  3. ^ "Sieri Pepoli Agostino". Città degli Archivi (Comune di Bologna) (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  4. ^ "La morte di Agostino Sieri Pepoli". Biblioteca Salaborsa – Bologna Online (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  5. ^ "Ospizio Marino "Riccardo Sieri Pepoli"" (PDF). Trapani Nostra (PDF) (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  6. ^ "Cronologia di Bologna – 1910". Biblioteca Salaborsa – Bologna Online. Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  7. ^ "Giardino del Balio". Grandi Giardini Italiani. Retrieved 18 May 2025.
  8. ^ "Pepoli Tower – Erice". West of Sicily (official DMO). Retrieved 24 September 2025. Built at the behest of Count Agostino Sieri Pepoli between 1872 and 1880… meeting place for distinguished guests from the cultural world.
  9. ^ "Torretta Pepoli". Fondazione Erice Arte (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  10. ^ "Museo Interdisciplinare Regionale "Agostino Pepoli" – Edificio". Regione Siciliana (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025. Costituito come Museo Civico tra il 1906 e il 1908; intitolato al suo fondatore.
  11. ^ "Palazzo Pepoli vecchio". Storia e Memoria di Bologna (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025.
  12. ^ "Archivio della famiglia Pepoli". Città degli Archivi (Comune di Bologna) (in Italian). Retrieved 24 September 2025. …lascito testamentario… al Comune di Bologna del 28 marzo 1910…
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.