The Urban Renewal of Sessa Aurunca promoted by Governor Lope de Herrera (1546-1560) for Duke Gonzalo II

Between 1546 and 1560, Governor Lope de Herrera promoted a project of urban renewal of the city of Sessa Aurunca, in the Kingdom of Naples, on a scale comparable to that carried out in Naples by the Viceroy Pedro de Toledo. The urban renewal of Sessa Aurunca demonstrates the interaction between the celebration of the feudal lords and the civic identity of the families of local élite. In 1549, to underline the town's loyalty toward the Empire-then represented by Spain-the Governor placed in the Seggio the medieval statue of Jacopo del Gaudio, a citizen who had fought for the Swabian against the Anjou. In 1558, the city gate was remodelled, reusing an already existing statue-a trophy sculpted some decade before for celebrating the memory of "the Great Captain" Gonzalo de Cordoba, ancestor of Duke Gonzalo II. In the new position, the trophy evolved from celebrating a single man to glorifying his entire family and the city of Sessa through it.