Resumen de Francesco Barberini e la "restauratione" del Triclinio Leoniano: il cantiere e un progetto inedito
Francesco Barberini and the "restauratione" of the Triclinio Leoniano: the construction site and an innovative project.
Shortly after assuming the cardinalship conferred on him in 1623 by his uncle pope Urban VIII, Francesco Barberini commissioned the restoration of the ruins of the so-called Triclinio Leoniano, the ancient, triple-apsed hall of the Lateran Patriarchate constructed under pope Leo III that, already in disuse for many years, had almost been competely demolished during the pontificate of Sixtus V.
The only portion of the hall that remained standing was in fact the main apse and a part of the mosaic decoration of the semi-dome, as recorded in the engraving representing the ruin in Nicolò Alemanni's well-known book, "De Lateranensibus Parietinis ..." (1625), published on the occasion of the restoration work commissioned by the cardinal for the ancient structure.
The theological and political implications tied to the recovery of the Leonian ruin,as well as the attention of the cardinal to Early Christian antiquities, have already been the subject of extensive study. Further analysis, however, has here been triggered by the discovery of new documentary data found in "Giustificazioni" in the Barberini Archives conserved in the Vatican Library. This data has proven useful for defining the contributions of Filippo Breccioli and Carlo Maderno to the executed project, and for clarifying the role of Mario Arconio, to whom renovations shown in another illustration in the aforementioned book are in large part attributed.
Additionally, recognition of an unrealized project for the framing of the ancient apse conserved in the Biblioteca Marucelliana in Florence, referable to the first two architects, informs us of an earlier ideational phase precedent to the adopted solution, leaving room for new considerations on the original intentions behind the recovery operation.
