A history of Renaissance civic loggias in Italy from the Loggia dei Lanzi to Sansovino's Loggetta.

摘要

The goal of the dissertation is to further our understanding of civic loggias in Italy in terms of functions, variations in architectural typology, patterns of patronage, and urbanism. The Loggia dei Lanzi in Florence and the Loggetta in Venice are taken as apogees at either end of the history of civic loggias, not as markers of the chronological limits of the dissertation's scope. The focus is on loggias which, like the Loggia dei Lanzi and the Loggetta, are self-contained buildings in their own right, not anterooms, terraces, balconies, or galleries of other buildings. The patron of all the loggias studied is the state, in most cases a communal regime. The word "civic" refers to functions which pertain to the official administration of the state; therefore, loggias for other functions, such as markets, are not included even if they were built by the state.;Out of the analysis of architecture, functions, patrons, and urbanism, issues arise relating to the potential of loggias to symbolize systems of political life. Addressing these and related issues leads ultimately toward an improved definition of the typology of the loggia or, perhaps, of a larger building typology of which loggias are but a part.;The dissertation begins with an exploration of possible antecedents of Renaissance civic loggias among antique Roman structures and the Carolingian laubiae, then proceeds with an examination of the earliest surviving civic loggias, which date to the thirteenth century and are largely located in northern Italy. An architectural tradition emerges in central Italy, exemplified by the Loggia dei Lanzi, which differs from that of the North. The changes reflect a broader range of sanctioned functions and users as well as the needs of different branches of government. Fifteenth- and sixteenth-century loggias in northern Italy are protagonists in an ideal urbanistic formula in which a multi-functional palazzo-loggia is paired with a smaller loggetta. The bureaucratic functions of the large Renaissance territorial state tend to converge in the former, while the future of the self-contained civic loggia is with the loggetta, the prospects for which lie in private patronage and suburban locations as garden loggias and pleasure pavilions, a fate presaged architecturally by Sansovino's Loggetta.;The dissertation includes a catalogue of Renaissance civic loggias and relevant documents.