AIMS AND LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course of History of Architecture LM aims to illustrate a general survey of the main topics of the history of European towns and town planning from the early 16th to the end of the 19th century. The lessons will focus on specific case-studies, discussed as examples of more general issues. Special attention will be devoted to methodological questions, aiming to present architectural history as a specific field of research in the broader context of historical and art-historical disciplines.

TEACHING METHODS

Lectures; exercises; possibly educational trips

SYLLABUS/CONTENT

• capitals of modern Europe

• Paris, from Francis I to Henry IV (the royal châteaux; French classicism, the places royales)
• Madrid, Philip II (the Escorial) and plazas mayores
• The renewal of Italian cities (Rome, from Sixtus V to Urban VIII; Genoa; Naples; Milan; Venice; Florence)
• London (from Inigo Jones to Christopher Wren; the squares; the great fire of 1666)
• Architects, patrons and building sites in the XVI-XVII centuries (Vasari, Bernini, Borromini VS)
   

• The end of the Old Regime

• The architecture of absolutism (in France: Paris, Versailles, Vauban; in Piedmont, from Guarini to Juvarra)
• St. Petersburg, from Peter the Great to Catherine
• The Enlightenment in France (rationalism and neo-classicism, from Laugier to Ledoux)
• Lisbon and the 1755 earthquake
• The Georgian England (London, Bath)
• The role of the architect in the XVIII century

• The age of revolutions

• The French Revolution (the revolutionary architecture in Paris; the Napoleonic period in Paris and in Italy)
• The Industrial Revolution and its consequences (industrialization and urbanization; the suburbs and the housing question)
• The diffusion of new building materials / building types / infrastructure and the development of new skills / professional antagonisms ('architects' VS 'engineers')

• The American city

• The colonies of Latin America and the Laws of the Indies of Philip II
• The North American cities, Jefferson and the plans of Washington and New York

• The ‘birth’ of Town planning

• The 'utopian socialism' (Owen, Fourier, Godin, Lever and Port Sunlight, Salt and Saltaire, Cadbury and Bournville)
• Paris in the age of Baron Haussmann
• Wien, from the Ringstrasse to Karl-Marx-Hof
• The disputed city (Ildefonso Cerdà; Camillo Sitte; town planning in Italy from 19th to 20th century)

RECOMMENDED READING/BIBLIOGRAPHY

Given the approach of the course and the broad span of time considered, there isn’t a single handbook that can substitute the attendance at classes. For a general overview, and / or for more analytical studies it may be useful to consult:

in general:

• G. Cricco-F. Di Teodoro, Itinerario nell’arte, Bologna, Zanichelli, 2010, 5 voll. (versione gialla)
• L. Spagnoli, Storia dell’urbanistica moderna, 1, Dal Rinascimento all’età delle Rivoluzioni (1400-1815), Bologna, Zanichelli, 2008
• S. Settis - T. Montanari, Arte. Una storia naturale e civile, Torino, Einaudi, 2019, 5 voll.

urban aspects:

• D. Calabi, Storia della città. L’età moderna, Venezia, Marsilio, 2001;
• E. Guidoni-A. Marino, Storia dell’urbanistica. Il Cinquecento, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 1982;
• E. Guidoni-A. Marino, Storia dell’urbanistica. Il Seicento, Bari-Roma, Laterza, 1979;
• P. Sica, Storia dell’urbanistica, I, Il Settecento, Bari, Laterza, 1992;

urban aspects, 19th century:

• L. Benevolo, Storia dell’architettura moderna, 1, La città industriale, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 1993;
• D. Calabi, Storia dell’urbanistica europea. Questioni, strumenti, casi esemplari, Milano, BrunoMondadori, 2004;
• Ead., Storia della città. L’età contemporanea, Venezia, Marsilio, 2005;
• P. Sica, Storia dell’urbanistica, II, L’Ottocento, Bari, Laterza, 1992 (2 voll.).

The teacher is available to students for any orientation and bibliographic information, and for further advices about classes and exams.