We have seen that most of the architects who rose to prominence during the 15th and 16th centuries included allusions to ancient Rome if not to actual Roman ruins in some of their most famous buildings. At the beginning of the 15th century, Rome essentially was a large medieval town, with sheep pastured in its meadows and the hills virtually abandoned. Parts of a few of the ancient buildings and of the city wall were visible, but even those were being destroyed as residents took stones to build and repair their own structures, or to crush and burn into lime. Although Rome had been part of the Papal States for centuries, between 1309 and the election of Nicholas V in 1447 the instability of the papacy prevented any serious attention from being paid to the city itself. From 1309 until 1377 the popes resided in Avignon (a period known as the Great Schism or Babylonian Captivity; see chapter 2, Religion), and for another seven decades a series of rival popes caused the schism to continue in Italy. During the latter 14th century, Petrarch surveyed the city and praised it in his poetry (see chapter 5, Literature and Language), but his identification of ruins was filled with errors. Nevertheless, his descriptions of the city inspired antiquarians and architects to begin serious study of the ruins of Rome. They were supported in this effort by the popes and the Holy Roman Emperors, many of whom viewed themselves as equal to the emperors of ancient Rome, especially Augustus Caesar.
When Nicholas V became pope, Rome was in a lamentable state, sacked and partially destroyed in 1413 by troops serving under the king of Naples. Italy was fractured into several competing city-states, notably Milan and Bologna, against the Holy See. Using the Jubilee year of 1450 to promote Rome as the center of Christianity, Nicholas V helped to unify the Italian states and stabilize the Papal States. This relatively peaceful era in Italian affairs drew much-needed income into Rome during the mid-15th century as thousands of pilgrims were able to travel safely to and from the Holy See. During Nicolas V’s papacy, the cultural legacy of Rome began to thrive, guided by humanists such as Poggio Bracciolini (1380-1459). Trained in Flo-
Handbook to Life in Renaissance Europe
Rence, Poggio (as he is usually called) moved to Rome in 1403 and worked in the service of eight popes. His scholarly focus involved discovering the manuscripts and editing the texts of Latin classics. Poggio’s travels in Europe with the papal entourage gave him the perfect opportunity to explore the great monastic libraries, such as Saint Gallen, and he often took the manuscripts he found back to the papal library. Among these Latin texts were descriptions of Rome as well as inscriptions, and Poggio traveled around the city in his spare time inspecting and describing the ruins in his attempt to understand the texts. Most importantly, Poggio deplored the despoliation of ancient Rome and emphasized the need to preserve the ruins that remained.
The Roman Academy was founded by the humanist Pomponio Leto (1425-98), who succeeded the great historian Lorenzo Valla (1407-57) in the Latin chair at the Gymnasium Romanum. Along with the Accademia Platonica (Platonic Academy) in Florence and Accademia Pontana (Academy of Pontano) in Naples, the Roman Academy was among the first in a long tradition of learned societies in Italy. The Academy in Rome was significant for the study of classical architecture because Leto was fascinated by the ancient city—its monuments as well as its literature. He and his colleagues wandered over Rome and down into the catacombs, documenting inscriptions and other antiquities. Leto lectured on the monuments of ancient Rome at the university, informing numerous students about his interpretations of ancient sites as well as referring to the work of the ancient antiquarian Varro. Leto was more systematic in his archaeological studies than previous scholars, helping his contemporaries understand the purpose of ancient buildings, their relationships within a site, and other information useful to architects modeling their designs on classical buildings. Finally, he taught his students to study ancient structures in the context of ancient texts (and vice versa), a bold interdisciplinary approach that introduced historical validity to architectural planning of the early Renaissance. Another forerunner of Roman archaeology was the papal secretary Flavio Biondo (1392-1463), who wrote meticulously about the topography of Rome. He supplemented classical sources by field study of actual ruins; his Roma instaurata (Rome restored) was consulted as a reference source by artists and architects for more than a century.
Pope Sixtus IV (1414-84), elected in 1471, founded a museum on the Capitoline hill in 1474. By then the craze for collecting antiquities was helping to preserve individual statues, inscriptions, and architectural ornaments, though at the same time causing these works to be dislocated from their original locations and thus obscuring the historical record. Although some collectors made notes of where their pieces had been found, others were more interested in impressing visitors with their treasures. Sixtus IV vastly improved the city’s infrastructure by commissioning a building program that included the much-needed advancement of widening and paving the streets. Even though parts of ruins were destroyed or relocated during the construction, that work uncovered more of the medieval and ancient city, which the next generation could then study. Except in isolated examples, such as the papal town of Pienza, urban planning as such did not progress outside Rome during the 15th and 16th centuries. In Rome the popes used their authority to sweep aside ruins, domestic dwellings, and small institutional buildings to modernize both the city and the Holy See. In other cities, however, the private vision of patrons such as the Medici, Rucellai, and Sforza usually prevailed; magnificent private residences were constructed without much thought about modernizing the city as a whole or even specific neighborhoods. The main public squares of Renaissance cities, however, were notable exceptions as efforts were made to frame these spaces with complementary buildings. Venice is the best example of this aspect of urban planning (see Libraries and MuseUms, page 117).
We should note that Roman antiquities were not the only treasures available to architects in Renaissance Rome. The Roman emperors had transported several massive obelisks from Egypt to Rome, and the obelisk near Saint Peter’s was still standing during the Renaissance. Sixtus V (1525-90), who did not place any value on preserving Rome’s ancient legacy, wanted to transfer this obelisk from the side of Saint Peter’s into the main
Architecture and Urban Planning
Piazza (where it stands today). Architects in Rome had long discussions concerning the hydraulic engineering that would be required for such a feat, which led to improved knowledge of hydraulics. But not even Michelangelo would undertake the project, which was finally accomplished by Domenico Fontana (1543-1607).
World History
