The course proposes an overview of the architecture of the past, providing tools to analyze and understand the historical reasons and assess its quality. To this end, students are asked to examine the architectures selected focusing on the reasons of their construction in a specific time and place, what were the objectives of the client, the builder and the architect, how and why certain techniques and specific materials have been chosen, what relationship these buildings have with the architectures of the past and those contemporary to them, considering how these aspects are related to each other, reconstructing the design process, when it is sufficiently documented. In the first year the chosen buildings are the ones deemed most significant, including during the time span from the classical age extended to the sixteenth century.
Canali
teacher profile teaching materials
The course is chronological, from the most ancient architecture to the architecture of the early modern age, and will include some thematic and seminar lessons, focusing on specific aspects, which may also be treated from a diachronic perspective.
PART I. COMPARED ANTIQUITIES: Architectural orders and origin of the temple; Greece and the East. From the Parthenon to the Dydimaion; ancient building techniques; the Etruscans; Roman architecture: tempio and foro; theatres and amphitheatres; domus, villa, palace.
PART II. CULTURES AND CONNECTIONS. FROM THE DECLINE OF ROME TO THE BIRTH OF EUROPE: Rome, Milan, Constantinople, Ravenna; Longobards and Carolingians in Europe; "Proto-Romanesque" and "Romanesque" in Italy and Europe; Gothic in Europe and Italy.
PART III. ARCHITECTURE IN THE HUMANISTIC AND RENAISSANCE AGES: Filippo Brunelleschi; Leon Battista Alberti; Giuliano da Sangallo; Bramante Raphael and his workshop; Michelangelo in Florence and Rome; Giulio Romano in Rome and Mantua, Andrea Palladio; tools of architect: drawings and treatises.
G. Cricco, F.P. Di Teodoro, Itinerario nell’arte (versione gialla), Bologna, Zanichelli, 2010 (volumi corrispondenti agli argomenti trattati a lezione)
C.L. Frommel, Architettura del Rinascimento italiano, Milano 2009
A. Naser Eslami, M.R. Nobile, Storia dell’architettura in Italia. Tra Mediterraneo e Europa (VII-XVIII secolo), Milano 2022 (disponibili in edizione cartacea o digitale)
S. Settis, T. Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e Civile, Milano 2019
C. Tosco, L’ architettura medievale in Italia: 600-1200, Bologna 2016
C. Tosco, L’architettura italiana nel Trecento, Bologna 2023
For the seminar
F. Mattei (ed.), L'architettura del Rinascimento. Storia e geografia, Roma, Carocci 2026
Programme
In 2026-2027 the course proposes an examination of the history of ancient, medieval and Renaissance architecture with particular reference to Southern Europe.The course is chronological, from the most ancient architecture to the architecture of the early modern age, and will include some thematic and seminar lessons, focusing on specific aspects, which may also be treated from a diachronic perspective.
PART I. COMPARED ANTIQUITIES: Architectural orders and origin of the temple; Greece and the East. From the Parthenon to the Dydimaion; ancient building techniques; the Etruscans; Roman architecture: tempio and foro; theatres and amphitheatres; domus, villa, palace.
PART II. CULTURES AND CONNECTIONS. FROM THE DECLINE OF ROME TO THE BIRTH OF EUROPE: Rome, Milan, Constantinople, Ravenna; Longobards and Carolingians in Europe; "Proto-Romanesque" and "Romanesque" in Italy and Europe; Gothic in Europe and Italy.
PART III. ARCHITECTURE IN THE HUMANISTIC AND RENAISSANCE AGES: Filippo Brunelleschi; Leon Battista Alberti; Giuliano da Sangallo; Bramante Raphael and his workshop; Michelangelo in Florence and Rome; Giulio Romano in Rome and Mantua, Andrea Palladio; tools of architect: drawings and treatises.
Core Documentation
A. Bruschi et al., Lineamenti di storia dell'architettura per i corsi di storia dell'architettura: introduzione e premessa di Arnaldo Bruschi e Gaetano Miarelli Mariani, Roma, Sovera, 1994 (o edizioni successive) G. Cricco, F.P. Di Teodoro, Itinerario nell’arte (versione gialla), Bologna, Zanichelli, 2010 (volumi corrispondenti agli argomenti trattati a lezione)
C.L. Frommel, Architettura del Rinascimento italiano, Milano 2009
A. Naser Eslami, M.R. Nobile, Storia dell’architettura in Italia. Tra Mediterraneo e Europa (VII-XVIII secolo), Milano 2022 (disponibili in edizione cartacea o digitale)
S. Settis, T. Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e Civile, Milano 2019
C. Tosco, L’ architettura medievale in Italia: 600-1200, Bologna 2016
C. Tosco, L’architettura italiana nel Trecento, Bologna 2023
For the seminar
F. Mattei (ed.), L'architettura del Rinascimento. Storia e geografia, Roma, Carocci 2026
Reference Bibliography
Architettura romana: i grandi monumenti, a cura di H. von Hesberg, P. Zanker, Milano 2009 Da Costantino a Carlo Magno, a cura di S. de Blaauw, Milano 2010 Further references will be provided at the end of each lesson.Type of delivery of the course
The course includes ex cathedra and on-site lectures. The programme is divided into three modules, subdivided chronologically. The first (Part I) is dedicated to ancient architecture, the second (Part II) to late antique and medieval architecture, the third (Part III) to 15th and 16th century architecture (see programme). Seminars and conferences dedicated to transdisciplinary themes will be organised and will be announced during the course. Students will receive the iconographic materials used for the lectures, which will also constitute a further guide to the topics covered. NOTICES Notices regarding teaching activities, including any changes in the timetable, and teaching materials will be published in the appropriate section of the departmental website and in the course Teams channel.Attendance
Attendance is compulsory, for a minimum of 75% of the lessons, both for the frontal teaching activities and for the seminar activities.Type of evaluation
The final evaluation is determined by three factors. 1. Final oral examination, focusing on the topics discussed in the course and the contents of the bibliography (see below GRADE). 2. Discussion of the individual study. At the beginning of the course, students will receive a list of the topics planned for the academic year 2025-2026 and a vademecum containing information on how to carry out the individual study and the bibliography. 3. During the semester, an intermediate written test (optional) focusing on the programme of the history of ancient and late ancient architecture is scheduled (approximately at the beginning of November). The test will be marked 30/30. The procedure and the schedule will be communicated at the beginning of the lessons. Those who pass the intermediate examination (mark higher than 18/30) will be allowed to discuss during the final examination only the part of the programme excluded from the examination. The mark obtained in the intermediate test (if higher than 18/30) will be averaged with the mark obtained during the final oral interview (see below GRADE). Students who do not take the intermediate test or do not pass it with a positive assessment may still take the final oral examination and will also be questioned on the contents of the programme covered by the intermediate test not passed or not taken (or both). FINAL EXAMINATION The oral exam will begin with questions on the individual exercise and will continue with further questions on the programme. Preparation of the exercise is compulsory for the final examination and is required of all students (i.e. both those who have taken/successfully taken the intermediate examination and those who have not). Failure to prepare for the individual exercise will make it impossible to sit the exam. The duration of the final interview is approximately 20 minutes. DISTRIBUTION OF THE GRADE - Grading distribution: knowledge of the course programme 50%; individual study 20%; intermediate test 30%. - Knowledge of the main buildings and architects illustrated during the course is a prerequisite for an adequate assessment. - The use of specific vocabulary and good critical ability will contribute to a fully positive evaluation. - The marks from the mid-term tests will be valid until the last appeal of the 2023/2024 autumn session. - For those who have not taken the intermediate tests, the final assessment of the course will be determined entirely by the outcome of the oral examination. Students with disabilities or students with DSA Students with disabilities or Specific Learning Disorders (SLD), accredited by the Service Centre for Disabled Students and Students with SLD, can contact the teacher and the departmental contact person for disabilities and SLD directly to agree on the methods for taking intermediate tests and examinations and the use of compensatory tools as provided for by current legislation and the University's guidelines. teacher profile teaching materials
The course aims to provide analytical and interpretative frameworks for studying the history of architecture in Italy and the Mediterranean region, from ancient Rome to the end of the sixteenth century. It includes in-depth historical and critical examinations of buildings, cities, architects, patrons, materials, and building techniques, design tools and graphic conventions used throughout time.
PART 1: ANTIQUITY (3RD CENT. B.C.–7TH CENT. A.D.)
Roman, Late Antique, and Early Christian architecture.
The Roman art of building from the monarchy to the late empire: concrete and cast vaults; processes of standardization in building production; territorial infrastructures and the anthropization of the landscape; the great Republican sanctuaries of Lazio; the architectural orders and Vitruvius’ De architectura.
Rome and Roman cities in the Republican age; the topography of Rome in the age of Augustus and the fourteen regiones of the Urbs; the great imperial building sites of Rome and the Severan Forma Urbis Romae; the expansion of cities in the imperial and late imperial age and the great metropolises of the Mediterranean.
PART 2: MIDDLE AGES (8TH–14TH CENT.)
Early Christian, and Late Antique architecture in the Mediterranean from Constantine to Justinian; the four Christian capitals: Rome, Milan, Constantinople, and Ravenna.
Early Medieval, Romanesque, and Gothic architecture.
Lombard architecture, the Carolingian “renaissance,” and the idea of Rome.
Characteristics, functions, spaces, and models of Romanesque architecture between feudal sovereignty and the free communes; materials, techniques, and construction systems of the Romanesque: the round arch, load-bearing wall, and groin vault; the circulation of Romanesque craftsmen and the guilds of arts and crafts; Romanesque architecture between pilgrimages and crusades.
Characteristics, functions, spaces, and models of Gothic architecture and the poetics of light; materials, techniques, and construction systems of the Gothic: the pointed arch, clustered pier, rib vault, bay with groin vaults, flying buttress, and stained-glass windows; the origins of Italian architecture and the great building sites of the Italian Gothic; spaces and functions of the Italian medieval city between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
PART 3: RENAISSANCE (15TH–16TH CENT.)
Renaissance Architecture.
Princes, cities, and architects of the fifteenth century; humanism and the memory of antiquity in fifteenth-century Italy; Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti; the origins of the modern architectural treatise; the emergence of the modern concept of architectural design and the role of drawings and models; fifteenth-century architecture in Florence, Rome, and across Italy.
Princes, cities, and architects of the sixteenth century; the role of architecture in the Italian Renaissance courts of the sixteenth century; Donato Bramante and Raffaello Sanzio; the patronage of Pope Julius II; the patronage of the Medici popes, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII; the architecture of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger; the architecture of Baldassarre Peruzzi and Giulio Romano; the architecture of Andrea Palladio in the Veneto and Venice.
Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Topography and Politics, California Univ. Press, 1983.
Without a basic knowledge of the history of architecture and art related to the periods covered in the lessons, it is strongly recommended to read manuals and textbook on the history of art and architecture in English:
David Watkin, A History of Western Architecture, London, Lawrence King Publ. Ltd., 20156 or previous editions.
Programme
COURSE OUTLINEThe course aims to provide analytical and interpretative frameworks for studying the history of architecture in Italy and the Mediterranean region, from ancient Rome to the end of the sixteenth century. It includes in-depth historical and critical examinations of buildings, cities, architects, patrons, materials, and building techniques, design tools and graphic conventions used throughout time.
PART 1: ANTIQUITY (3RD CENT. B.C.–7TH CENT. A.D.)
Roman, Late Antique, and Early Christian architecture.
The Roman art of building from the monarchy to the late empire: concrete and cast vaults; processes of standardization in building production; territorial infrastructures and the anthropization of the landscape; the great Republican sanctuaries of Lazio; the architectural orders and Vitruvius’ De architectura.
Rome and Roman cities in the Republican age; the topography of Rome in the age of Augustus and the fourteen regiones of the Urbs; the great imperial building sites of Rome and the Severan Forma Urbis Romae; the expansion of cities in the imperial and late imperial age and the great metropolises of the Mediterranean.
PART 2: MIDDLE AGES (8TH–14TH CENT.)
Early Christian, and Late Antique architecture in the Mediterranean from Constantine to Justinian; the four Christian capitals: Rome, Milan, Constantinople, and Ravenna.
Early Medieval, Romanesque, and Gothic architecture.
Lombard architecture, the Carolingian “renaissance,” and the idea of Rome.
Characteristics, functions, spaces, and models of Romanesque architecture between feudal sovereignty and the free communes; materials, techniques, and construction systems of the Romanesque: the round arch, load-bearing wall, and groin vault; the circulation of Romanesque craftsmen and the guilds of arts and crafts; Romanesque architecture between pilgrimages and crusades.
Characteristics, functions, spaces, and models of Gothic architecture and the poetics of light; materials, techniques, and construction systems of the Gothic: the pointed arch, clustered pier, rib vault, bay with groin vaults, flying buttress, and stained-glass windows; the origins of Italian architecture and the great building sites of the Italian Gothic; spaces and functions of the Italian medieval city between the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries.
PART 3: RENAISSANCE (15TH–16TH CENT.)
Renaissance Architecture.
Princes, cities, and architects of the fifteenth century; humanism and the memory of antiquity in fifteenth-century Italy; Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti; the origins of the modern architectural treatise; the emergence of the modern concept of architectural design and the role of drawings and models; fifteenth-century architecture in Florence, Rome, and across Italy.
Princes, cities, and architects of the sixteenth century; the role of architecture in the Italian Renaissance courts of the sixteenth century; Donato Bramante and Raffaello Sanzio; the patronage of Pope Julius II; the patronage of the Medici popes, Pope Leo X and Pope Clement VII; the architecture of Michelangelo Buonarroti and Antonio da Sangallo the Younger; the architecture of Baldassarre Peruzzi and Giulio Romano; the architecture of Andrea Palladio in the Veneto and Venice.
Core Documentation
Paul Zanker, La città romana, 2013.Richard Krautheimer, Three Christian Capitals. Topography and Politics, California Univ. Press, 1983.
Without a basic knowledge of the history of architecture and art related to the periods covered in the lessons, it is strongly recommended to read manuals and textbook on the history of art and architecture in English:
David Watkin, A History of Western Architecture, London, Lawrence King Publ. Ltd., 20156 or previous editions.
Reference Bibliography
SUGGESTED BIBLIOGRAPHY ON PART 1: ANTIQUITY (3RD CENT. B.C.–7TH CENT. A.D.) Jean-Pierre Adam, L’arte di costruire presso i romani. Materiali e tecniche, Milano, Longanesi, 1990. Filippo Coarelli, Roma, Bari-Roma, Editori Laterza, 2008. Cairoli Fulvio Giuliani, L’edilizia nell’antichità, Roma, Carocci, 2021. On PART 2: MIDDLE AGES (8TH–14TH CENT.) Giorgio Ravegnani, Andare per l'Italia bizantina, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016. Carlo Tosco, L’architettura medievale in Italia 600-1200, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2016. Carlo Tosco, L’architettura italiana nel Duecento, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2021. Carlo Tosco, Le vie delle cattedrali gotiche, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024. Giovanni Coppola, L’edilizia nel Medioevo, Roma, Carocci, 2022 o edizioni precedenti. ON PART 3: RENAISSANCE (15TH–16TH CENT.) James S. Ackerman, Palladio, Harmondsworth UK, Penguin Books, 1966 or any other edition. James S. Ackerman, The Architecture of Michelangelo, London, A. Zwemmer Ltd, 1986 or previous editions. Howard Burns, La villa italiana del Rinascimento. Forme e funzioni delle residenze di campagna, dal castello alla villa palladiana, Costabissara, Angelo Colla, 2012. Roberto Gargiani, Princìpi e costruzione nell’architettura italiana del Quattrocento, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2003. Architectural history book series: Electa, Storia dell’architettura italiana, collana a cura di Giuseppe Positano de Vincentiis: Architettura romana: i grandi monumenti di Roma, a cura di Henner von Hesberg, Paul Zanker, 2009. Architettura romana: Le città d’Italia, a cura di Henner von Hesberg, Paul Zanker, 2012. Da Costantino a Carlo Magno, a cura di Sible de Blaauw, 2010. Il Quattrocento, a cura di Francesco Paolo Fiore, 1998. Il primo Cinquecento, a cura di Arnaldo Bruschi, 2002. Il secondo Cinquecento, a cura di Claudia Conforti, Richard J. Tuttle, 2001. Storia visiva dell’architettura italiana 1400-1700, a cura di Massimiliano Savorra, 2006. Laterza: Storia della città, collana a cura di Donatella Calabi: Ennio Concina, La città bizantina, 2003. Donatella Calabi, La città del primo Rinascimento, 2001. Claudia Conforti, La città del tardo Rinascimento, 2005. Dictionaries of architecture: Nikolaus Pevsner, John Fleming, Hugh Honour, Dictionary of Architecture, Harmondsworth UK, Penguin Books, latest edition suggested. James Stevens Curl, Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, Oxford, Oxford Univ. Press, latest edition suggested. Owen Hopkins, Reading Architecture. A Visual Lexicon, London, Lawrence King Publ. Ltd., 2012. Architectural theory and treatises: Bernd Evers, Christof Thoenes, Architectural Theory from the Renaissance to the Present, Berlin, Taschen 2003. Les livres d’architecture (Architectura: architecture, textes et images en France XVIe-XVIIe siecles): http://architectura.cesr.univ-tours.fr/Traite/liste.asp Digital dictionaries: Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana Treccani: https://www.treccani.it/biografie/ Grande dizionario della lingua italiana, UTET: https://www.gdli.it/Attendance
ATTENDANCE POLICY Attendance is mandatory for at least 75% of the classes, including both traditional in-class teaching activities and on-site sessions, as well as seminar activities, in accordance with academic regulations. Students who may have difficulty attending classes due to work commitments must inform the instructor by the end of October and agree on additional reading materials. Requests can be made in person or via email; in the latter case, it is crucial to ensure that a response from the instructor has been received.Type of evaluation
EVALUATION METHOD AND GRADING POLICY The final grade (expressed on a scale of 30/30 with honors) takes into account the grade obtained in the optional midterm examination. The determination of the final grade will consider the use of appropriate technical vocabulary, the quality of learning, autonomy of judgment, and the coherence and logical strength of arguments. Furthermore, the achievement of the course’s specific learning outcomes will significantly contribute to a fully positive evaluation and to improving the final grade, in particular through the following aspects: ability to analyze architectural artifacts within their urban and territorial contexts; knowledge of construction techniques and the use of materials in relation to different geographical and historical contexts; understanding of the nature of space, the features of territory, and the construction of landscape over time; ability to critically engage with sources and bibliography, problematizing definitions, concepts, and reference categories; understanding of drawing conventions and tools of architectural communication in relation to different cultures and historical periods. MIDTERM (optional) At the end of the first teaching module, an optional midterm examination is scheduled. It consists of an oral examination lasting approximately 15 minutes, including two questions based on the general syllabus (lectures, site visits, PowerPoint presentations, required readings listed in the bibliography, and any supplementary teaching materials), a redrawing of a building (from an assigned list), and an image identification (from PowerPoint presentations). Only in exceptional cases will additional questions be allowed, when necessary for a more precise assessment. The result of the midterm examination is expressed using four grades: A (excellent), B (good), C (satisfactory), D (unsatisfactory), which may be qualified with “+” or “–”. Students who pass the optional midterm examination with a grade of C (satisfactory) or higher will be assessed in the final examination only on MODULE 2: THE MIDDLE AGES and MODULE 3: THE RENAISSANCE. Failure to pass this examination, or not taking it, entails a final examination covering the entire course syllabus. FINAL At the end of the course, a final oral examination lasting between 25 and 35 minutes is scheduled. It consists of five questions structured as follows: two questions based on the general syllabus (lectures, site visits, PowerPoint presentations, compulsory readings listed in the bibliography, and any supplementary teaching materials), one question on the compulsory readings (selected from those listed in the bibliography), a redrawing of a building (from an assigned list), and image identification (from PowerPoint presentations). Each question is graded from 1 to 6 points; therefore, the passing threshold is a total score of at least 18/30. Unanswered questions receive a score of zero. In this case as well, only in exceptional circumstances will additional questions be allowed, when necessary for a more precise assessment.