In questo volume:

Costantino Ceccanti, La cappella Pandolfini presso la Badia: un’architettura del tardo Quattrocento a Firenze.

Abstract: The Pandolfini Chapel, or Saint Stephen’s Chapel, is one of the most significant sacred buildings which have been built in Florence between the late 15th and early 16th centuries. However, poor information was achieved heretofore about its history. This study offers a new dating and authorship attribution to the chapel which, having been built in the last decade of the 15th century, witnesses an intermediation phase between the fundamental experiences of Brunelleschi (Sagrestia Vecchia and Pazzi Chapel) and the articulated works of Baccio d’Agnolo and his workshop, passing by some other less-known examples derived from Alberti’s architecture, such as the mausoleum-chapel dedicated to Vergine di Piazza in Pistoia. The research also disproves the attribution of authorship which has been so far made to Benedetto da Rovezzano, displacing his contribution to the later and adjacent Bonsi Chapel.

Angela Michela Convertini, Il palazzo nella basilica. Il fronte meridionale di Santa Maria Maggiore dal progetto di Paolo V Borghese all’intervento di Ferdinando Fuga

Abstract: This study investigates the little-known phases which led to the construction of the southern wing of Saint Mary Major Basilica in Rome. While the wing on the right side of the portico was built by Flaminio Ponzio under the pontificate of Paul V Borghese (1605-1621), it had to wait at least another century for the construction of its symmetrical counterpart to be undertaken. And yet, even though a balanced elevation facing the square was finally achieved in the first two decades of the 18th century, the newly erected façade of the palace still hid behind the chaotic ensemble of chapels and service areas which had been filling the left side of the basilica for centuries. It was only between 1741 and 1751 that Ferdinando Fuga, commissioned to conclude the century-old construction of the complex, built the monumental staircase connecting the entrance portico and the new loggia for the blessings. The work of Fuga conferred a completely novel significance to the very wing of the palace which has been awaiting the completion since the time of Pope Paul V.

Giorgia Alessandra D’onofrio, Maestranze ticinesi nel Lazio meridionale: ipotesi su un’influenza della cultura dei laghi lombardi in alcune architetture settecentesche del Frusinate.

Abstract: The presence of itinerant artisans from Ticino in some inland and rural areas of Lazio plays a significant role in the architectural context of this territory where Roman and Neapolitan influences are merged. What gives to the work of these architects and artisans a great uniqueness is the possibility of identifying in their creations some peculiar features of Ticinese derivation. The analysis of the Ticinese contribution in Lazio was made via the figures of Domenico Simonetti and Cistoforo de Donatis, who arrived in this area in the mid-18th-century for working at Montecassino Abbey and settled both in the surrounding areas. Based on some particular characteristics of the facades and the altars of the churches designed by these two architects, we can assume a participation of those also in other constructions of which the authorship remains unknown.

Daniel Rabreau, Les Russes et Paris à l’époque de Claude-Nicolas Ledoux. Entre régénération, identité et prospective architecturale

Abstract: The influence of the French architects of the latter half of 18th century – and in particular that of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux – on Russian architecture, have been subject of recent studies which have raised new questions about the period. The definition, under which the period is often classified, i.e. the Neoclassicism, is radically questioned by the author for the following reasons: On one hand, it unifies phenomena which are too distant from each other and on the other hand, it does not really take into account possibly longer elaboration processes. The present paper retraces these interpretations considering the dialectic between imitation and emulation. Furthermore, the more complex history of a “Gallo-Hellenic” line which has been affirmed since the time of Louis XV; and the question of French gusto against the Italian one, are also highlighted. Finally, the research offers a chapter of the history of reception exemplified by numerous literary sources of the period – from Jean-François de La Harpe to Quatremère de Quincy – with new considerations on monuments such as the École de Chirurgie by Jacques Gondoin and the Sainte-Geneviève by Jacques- Germain Soufflot.

Fabio Mangone, Giovan Battista Comencini (1849-1924), tra arti decorative e urbanistica

Abstract: The figure of the architect and engineer Giovan Battista Comencini (Udine 1849-Naples 1924) is considered particularly relevant for the Liberty Style in Naples, and yet has never been investigated in its chronological and thematic extents. Based on new documentary research carried out in various Italian archives, this study offers an unprecedented overall profile, which also investigates his first period in Rome, hitherto neglected by the scholarship, and the multiple implications of his activity. A catalog of his work is also offered here for the first time, which points out some of his forgotten yet greatly important works such as the transformation into a theater of the Mausoleum of Augustus in Rome, the Stella Chapel in Sorrento, the Scarlatti Hall of the Conservatory of Naples, and so on. The study offers at the same time new considerations on other and better-known works of Comencini thanks to archive data which emerged from the research. Moreover, this essay highlights, above all, the multiple profiles of his activity: from an artist and craftsman of decorative arts to a mechanized transport systems expert engineer, from an architectural designer to an entrepreneur of complex urban and real estate transformation operations. The study is supported by an extensive iconographic material which include numerous unpublished pieces, bringing out especially some of the original drawings which have survived to the present day and historical photos of his missing work.