Borromini tuscolano

This publication proposes, in an expanded and updated version, the key that the Author had already advanced in an earlier essay which was published ten years ago, concerning the 17th century intervention on the Villa Rufina: the first one of the Ville Tuscolane (summer residences for the papal circle that rose, in the late Renaissance, on the hills at the south of Rome). The Authors assumes also to be valid the well-established attribution of this work to Francesco Borromini. In this volume a wide demonstration is offered of the efficacy, for the aim of a reliable reconstruction of the evolutionary phases of a certain building, of the interaction between the historical documents and the architectural survey, showing also how this time of analysis can lead to incorrect or misleading considerations, when it is not carried out enough deeply. In the second phase (the expansion of the 17th century) which characterized all the Ville Tuscolane, the Rufina, at the time owned by the Falconieri (family), was the subject of an extensive renewal. With this intervention the first bulding that had initiated the “modern rediscovery” of building activity in these places (being, in fact, the originator of the Complex) was considerably transformed with regard to its material structure, appearance and relationship with the environment. For the devising of the general plan, it is commonly ascribed to Francesco Borromini, on the basis more of archive documents than of its style. If the decoration of the Villa has been extensively and reliably studied, the same cannot be said about the transformations that the old building underwent, especially with regard to the lost loggia towards Rome. The hypothesis that has gradually taken root, about the location of this lodge, in the various papers published on the subject, is in fact supported only by some engravings of the time (in which the Villa is depicted in a pseudo-perspectival view and only as an element amongst the many others of the Complex). It has never been scientifically proved by the check of a survey, or by a careful comparison with the plan of the original nucleus of the original factory map stored in the “Carte Strozzi” at the State Archives of Florence, that has been ignored or considered – with some superficiality – as unreliable. The hypothesis the Author suggested since the previous essay, evaluates the “logic” of the addition Borromini made to the Villa Rufina detaching itself from these assumptions and basing itself on some specific considerations concerning the iconographic documents that have been published over the years in various contributions, evaluating the reliability of each of them. These considerations were also related to a comprehensive survey of the work in its current state, as the so far published surveys are partial or were carried out on the structure as extensively damaged by the war. In the volume are also discussed several different hypotheses that emerged in the meantime, also on the allocation of the project, as the attribution to Borromini – which in the past had seen ups and downs, from the header of the engraving by Alessandro Specchi to the evidences provided by Paolo Portoghesi and by Angela Negro, taken from the Falconieri-Carpegna archive – has recently been the subject of a new attempt of denial. Developing the considerations already advanced before, and using a new display of subsidiary iconography that sees the exploitation of the potential of 3d modeling when applied to the criteria of the philological surveying, this study aims at a confirmation of the effectiveness of this method of investigation, which is based on a survey of the work in its positive state in conjunction with an unavoidable historical-documentary analysis. On the basis of this same scientific procedural system, taking as well in account many historical photographic documents, so far unpublished, is also developed a philological reconstruction of the northern front, that is proposed in the last chapter. The aim is to provide a first – although partial – contribution to the re-reading of the last phase (the 20th century), which marked the building, that had already been altered in the early years of the 20th century, then compromised by the war and finally transformed by the restoration and rehabilitation of the complex, which reconstructed the pre-existing morphology only in a partial and general way.

La pubblicazione propone, in versione ampliata e aggiornata, la chiave di lettura già avanzata dall’autore alcuni anni or sono in relazione all’intervento seicentesco voluto dalla famiglia Falconieri sulla più antica delle Ville Tuscolane, la Rufina, ritenendone valida la consolidata attribuzione al Borromini. Nel volume viene data un’ampia dimostrazione dell’efficacia dell’interazione “documenti storici-rilievo architettonico”, nella ricostruzione delle fasi evolutive di una fabbrica e di come questo momento d’analisi, ove insufficientemente approfondito, possa indurre a considerazioni erronee. Infatti, l’ipotesi diffusa in vari contributi sull’argomento riguardo alla forma dell’originario Casino della Rufina – e in particolare alla posizione della loggia verso Roma – è suffragata soltanto da incisioni d’epoca e non è mai stata scientificamente comprovata dal riscontro di un rilievo, né dal confronto attento con la pianta del nucleo originario della fabbrica conservata nelle Carte Strozzi presso l’Archivio di Stato di Firenze, ignorata o considerata – con una certa superficialità – come inattendibile. L’ipotesi qui sostenuta valuta la “logica” dell’addizione alla Villa Rufina basandosi su considerazioni relative sia ai vari documenti iconografici sia all’attendibilità di ciascuno; il tutto è inoltre riferito al completo rilevamento dell’opera nel suo stato attuale. Discutendo ipotesi diverse (anche attributive) emerse nel frattempo e sviluppando le considerazioni precedentemente avanzate grazie anche a un nuovo apparato iconografico che vede sfruttate le potenzialità della modellazione 3D applicate ai criteri del rilievo filologico, il lavoro tende a ribadire l’efficacia di tale metodo d’indagine, basato sul rilievo delle attuali condizioni dell’opera in associazione all’imprescindibile analisi storico-documentale. Attraverso il medesimo impianto scientifico procedurale è inoltre sviluppata la ricostruzione filologica del fronte settentrionale, basata anche su documentazione fotografica d’epoca parzialmente inedita. Si intende così offrire un iniziale – seppur parziale – contributo alla rilettura dell’ultima fase (quella novecentesca) che ha contrassegnato la fabbrica, vedendola già alterata ai primi del XX secolo, quindi compromessa dagli eventi bellici e infine trasformata dalle operazioni di restauro/ripristino del complesso, che hanno riproposto solo parzialmente e in modo generico la precedente morfologia del manufatto.