In questo volume:

Maria Beltramini, Antonella Perin, Una chiesa per Gaudenzio. Nuovi documenti per la storia di San Cristoforo a Vercelli

Abstract: So far, the history and architecture of the church of St. Christopher in Vercelli, the main seat of the Humiliati Order in the city, has never been subject of a specific study. The only mentions to the building appear in relation to the well-known paintings by Gaudenzio Ferrari (which were made between 1529 and 1534) that are housed inside. Moreover, with their pervading illusionism, the eighteenth-century decorations have further contributed to make the original structures appear even less ‘visible’. Recognizing the importance of the building for the Savoy Duchy and contextualizing it within the artistic and architectural panorama of the early-sixteenth-century Lombardy, the authors have reconstructed in detail the complex patronage, design, and construction phases of the church. The discovery of contracts signed between 1521 and 1524, which were hitherto unknown, also helped to identify the author of the building as the painter Eusebio Ferrari da Pezzana. Presumably, he was also responsible for Gaudenzio’s participation to the decorations of the interior with the aforementioned paintings, these two being companions since 1508.

Massimo Bulgarelli, Di alcuni motivi in Giulio Romano

Abstract: This essay explores the use of Tuscan and Doric forms in Giulio Romano’s architecture, trying to decipher their possible sources from the Antiquity and references to his earlier contemporaries. A precise relationship to Raphael’s projects is established, as well as to the debate within his circle around De architettura, translated by Fabio Calvo. In particular, the identification of the Tuscan order (both in the remnants of the Antiquity and in Giulio’s own architectural projects), consists in reducing the decoration of the bases, capitals, and entablatures. Such operation was introduced by Donato Bramante already in his staircase (known as the Chiocciola) at the Vatican Belvedere. Compared to Bramante, however, Raphael and especially Giulio Romano adopted more experimental hybrid solutions putting together elements deriving from different architectural types. This is particularly evident in the façades of the Palazzo Te in Mantua, where roughly a dozen of variations on the Tuscan can be found. Presumably, this extraordinary richness was for celebrating the Etruscan origins of the city, whose memory was still alive at the beginning of the sixteenth century as witnesses Chronica de Mantua, written by Mario Equicola and published in 1521. Thus, through the reference to the foundation of the city, the architecture honors the building’s patron, Federico II Gonzaga, and the dynasty of the Lords of Mantua.

Valeria Pagnini, Città e salute nelle utopie del Cinquecento
 

Abstract: The relationship between medicine and architecture found fertile ground of development during the Renaissance. The emergence of the debate on the “ideal city” sparked a vivid discussion on the concept of health and the policies for its preservation. Sixteenth-century utopians integrated more decisively into their treatises aspects regarding the health and human body. During this period, a possible new way of life was proposed, with a significant shift in the focus of the treatise from the city’s form to the ‘form’ of the society inhabiting it. This primarily aimed to increase the collective livability of the city, addressing social issues through measures for better hygiene and health and the enhancement of infrastructures. This essay aims to explore the evolution of this relationship by analyzing various treatises, with particular attention to the writings of Anton Francesco Doni, Francesco Patrizi, and Ludovico Agostini.

Nicoletta Marconi, Valentina Florio, “Al pari di un teatro con fontane, statue e vasi di agrumi”: architettura, costruzione e restauro del ninfeo di palazzo Barberini a Palestrina

Abstract: The Barberini Nymphaeum in Palestrina, completed in December 1668, was commissioned by Prince Maffeo Barberini (1630-1685) and designed by the architect Francesco Contini (1599-1669). The private garden and the nymphaeum are located between the Mount Ginestro and the imposing volume of the Barberini Palace built on the ruins of the ancient Sanctuary of Fortuna. Today a private property of the palace, the nymphaeum embellishes the garden with its graceful scenography. Invisible from the city, it was partially known thanks written sources. This essay supplements our knowledge about the nymphaeum with information coming from documents recently discovered in the Barberini Archive at the Vatican Library. Thanks to this new evidence, it is now possible to follow the history of the nymphaeum with more accuracy. The payment orders explicitly attest the authorship of Contini and clarify the chronology of the construction, as well as the materials and techniques used. They also shed light on the extent and the phases of the restoration conducted after the bombing of the Allies in June 1944. The Barberini Nymphaeum underwent radical restoration and reconstruction in 1965, which despite securing its survival, could not preserve some of the most valuable architectural features and refined finishing, thanks to which it was described as “a thing of great wonder”.

Rossella de Cadilhac, Restauro e consolidamento in tessuti storici ad elevata vulnerabilità. Linee guida per il complesso palaziale Carbone-Rigirone nel borgo medievale di Craco

Abstract: The case study of the abandoned medieval settlement of Craco in the province of Matera, which was evacuated in the 1960s because of severe hydrogeological instability, offers an opportunity to reflect on the rather delicate consolidation-restoration relationship. Craco serves today as an example of highly fragile heritage, even from figurative point of view, requiring therefore proper attention for a better conservation. It is undeniable that the structural rehabilitation (both of monumental buildings and the minor ones surrounding them, such as in the case of the Carbone-Rigirone palaces) must increase the safety. However, by doing so the individual features of the single buildings should not be compromised, nor that of the entire urban organism. For this reason, the historical knowledge becomes fundamental, the only way to secure an appropriate respect for the materials, layers, and formal qualities of the buildings and urban fabrics. The procedure to adopt requires three phases. First comes the analysis, which prepares the ground for different solutions. The second one is interpretation, which facilitates the selection of the alternatives which are considered the best. The third and the final phase is the design of the operations to undertake, which are the outcome of a critical synthesis. These latter strictly conditions the consistency and the quality of the results.

Francesco Repishti, Nuovi documenti su Ambrogio di Marco Solari architector a Viterbo

Abstract: The aim of this contribution is to bring together some new documentary data on this master that have emerged from research in the Notary Deeds fonds of the Milan Notarial Archives and among the Registers of the Fabbrica del Duomo, so as to clarify the biography of Ambrogio Solari, Marco’s son, who was later involved in the 1470s in the works for the construction of the bell tower of Santa Maria della Quercia near Viterbo and the façade of the church of Santa Cristina in Bolsena.