New Renaissance Models in the Palazzo Venezia area 

SERIES: One square, so many stories series - Under the aegis of Edith Gabrielli, director of VIVE
SPEAKER: Alessandro Zuccari
DATE: Thursday 15 June, 6 pm
PLACE: Palazzo Venezia, Sala del Refettorio

The “Palazzetto” and more importantly the “Palazzo” of Pietro Barbo – a Venetian cardinal become Pope in 1464 with the name of Paul II – are, along with the external loggia of St Mark’s, an artistic workshop of great importance. Well- and lesser-known architects and stonemasons alternated in works that had the merit of introducing ambitious and innovative architectural solutions to a Rome of still mediaeval appearance. Paul II wanted to turn it into a new papal residence and created a building complex featuring structures inspired by classical monuments such as the Colosseum, Teatro di Marcello and Basilica di Massenzio. Extended by Cardinal Marco Barbo (and later gifted to the Venetian Republic by Pius IV) the Palazzo ushered in the Renaissance phase in the area at the foot of the Campidoglio, where Michelangelo lived and the church of Santa Maria di Loreto was founded (1507), its central Bramante-style plan becoming a model on which even Raphael drew for inspiration.

Biography

Alessandro Zuccari is a professor of the History of Modern art and vice-chancellor of the "Sapienza" Università di Roma. He is an academic of the Lincei and a member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences and other cultural institutions. His scientific output covers the 15th to 18th centuries, without neglecting contemporary times. He a leading expert on Caravaggio and has published numerous essays on Mannerist painting, the Caravaggisti and masters such as Fra’ Angelico, Raphael, Scipione Pulzone and Borromini. He is the editor of the Storia dell’arte magazine. 

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