DIDA: Dipartimento di Architettura

To date the measurements of Etruscan architecture have remained unknown. The author has carried out a long study on the pre-Pythagorean mathematical language of the " Project of architecture, town and territory " (from now on " Project ") in ancient civilisations. He presents-as one of the results of this-an in-depth investigation of the Etruscan Project, starting from the discovery of the measurements, which were part of this language. The analysis of the architecture and the towns gives a new voice to the Projects, after 2500 years. The study is entitled: The Search for E: the Project of Architecture, Town and Territory in Etruria and the Ancient World. This is a presentation to Scholars. Foreword Etruscan archaeology has not so far yielded any objects identifiable as units of measurement, which we have instead for example for the Egyptians and Sumerians. Latin literature makes rare, vague allusions to Etruscan measurements. Some information has come down to us from the Corpus Agrimensorum Romanorum (Latin land surveying books of the Imperial Age). These cite for example the Latin Actus, specifying its ancient, probably Etruscan root, Acnua. There must have been the foot, because all the contemporary civilisations had the foot among their units of measurement; and maybe also the passus ('pace'), i.e. the 1 x 5 multiple of the foot, also maintained in the Roman age. None of archaeologists' attempts at attributing a unit of measurement to the Etruscan monuments has yielded any useful results, and the findings of the sites are mainly expressed in measurements of the decimal metric system. The unit of measurement most tested to date has been the Attic foot, since, as is known, experts suggest a particular Greek influence on Etruscan culture. The Oscan foot and Italic foot have also been proposed from time to time because their measurements in centimetres vary with regard to the Attic foot and seem more appropriate for some but not all of the monuments. The literary approach to measurement has failed. Applying a single measurement of about 27-30 cm such as the foot, without submultiples and multiples, cannot however lead to any useful result. What we need is a system of measurement. I believe that research should have followed different, mathematics-based methodologies. The Etruscans built stone monuments which go back to the 7 th-6 th CBCE, and in this age strong oriental traits can be recognised. All the temples and tombs present archetypical geometrical forms such as squares, circles, triangles, rectangles, cubes, cylinders, half-spheres; and there is a markedly symmetrical relationship among the different parts. This means that there must have been a Project with construction rules, as also appeared evident to Vitruvius, who codified a Tuscan Order for the Etruscan temples. In the first pre-Pythagorean Etruscan centuries, the mathematical knowledge of the priests/architects might have been that present above all on the Asian coast of the Aegean, originating from the great ancient civilisations of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and from Canaan. It was in fact from here that the new alphabet set sail for Mediterranean shores. During my study I have reconstructed part of the pre-Pythagorean mathematical language applied to ancient architecture, which I have called " Mathematics of the Origins " , with its geometrical and arithmetical contents, attributing to it a value that the term " pre-Pythagorean " did not allow it. In this mathematical system we find some fundamental theorems such as the ratio between the square and the circle, expressed in Egypt already in the third millennium by the whole numbers 5,7,22 (5: side of the square; 7: diagonal of the square and diameter of the circumscribed circle; 22: circumference of that circle), as contained in the measurement system of the Royal Cubit, which thus reveals a rigidly mathematical origin: the RC is the diagonal-diameter divided in 7 Palms; 5 is the RR, Royal Remen. The 22:7 ratio represents Pi. The 7:5 ratio represents the constant between the diagonal and the side of square (both in whole numbers). In Sumer, already in the 4 th MBCE there was a system of surface measurements based on geometrical figures, notably including the fundamental one of the 1 x 2 rectangle (composed of two 1 x 1 squares). Finally, the ancient civilisations shared the same methodology of orientation based on the catheti of the right-angled triangle, hence on a pair of numbers. For example, a 3:4 orientation referred to the 3,4,5 Pythagorean triangle, considered sacred and dedicated to Isis in Egypt.

abstract To date the measurements of Etruscan architecture, urban and farmland planning have remained unknown. The author has carried out a long study on the pre-Pythagorean mathematical language of the " Project of architecture, town and territory " (from now on " Project ") in ancient civilisations. He presents-as one of the results of this-an in-depth investigation of the Etruscan Project, starting from the discovery of the measurements, which were part of this language. The present report concerns the surface measurements, a follow-up to the one on the linear measurements. The analysis of Etruscan towns, necropolises and farmland gives new voice to the Projects, after 2500 years. The study is entitled: The Search for E: the Project of Architecture, Town and Territory in Etruria and the Ancient World. This is a presentation for scholars. Analysis of the measurements of Roman spatial divisions To find the Etruscan surface measurements we need to reconstruct the mathematics of the Roman spatial divisions, i. e. of their centurationes. This was an intuition subsequently confirmed by the territorial analyses of Etruscan towns and territories, and partly suggested by Columella, one of the Roman men of letters who wrote about land surveying in 1CACE. He claimed that the linear measurement of the actus (200 pes) was called acnua in ancient times and that the smallest surface measurement was the half-scripulum (5x10 pes), no longer used in his time. The Romans carried out a large number of territorial spatial divisions, especially during the imperial expansion, involving the whole of the Padana Valley from west to east, the Tuscan, Latium and Campania plains, many European river-valleys and African areas such as Carthage in Tunisia. Thus the Romans implemented the greatest transformation of the territory ever made before the modern age. But where did they learn these techniques? Roman tradition deriving from various sources maintained that the geometrical spatial division of the territory according to orientated and measured Cartesian axes was of Etruscan origin. Sextus Iulius Frontinus, one of the preeminent Roman authors of the Gromatici Veteres, declared in the late I CACE " the first origin of the Limitatio, i. e. the spatial division of the territory mentioned by Varro, came from the Etruscan Disciplina " , which was part of the Etruscans' sacred books. The Etruscans indeed did possess the arithmetical, geometrical and technological knowledge to carry out such divisions; and in the regions they inhabited there are many traces which can unequivocally be attributed to their works: towns, necropolises, agricultural systems, complex road networks, land drainage systems. So let us look now at the theory and methodology of spatial division in order to understand the meaning of the numbers and geometrical figures it proposes. Let us examine the mathematical elements, starting from its fundamental figure, the large elementary territorial square, ETS, of 2400x2400 pes (approx. 712 m in Roman feet). I will group all the operations of land division (limitatio), boundary stone placement (terminatio) or lot distribution (centuratio) under the definition spatial division of the territory (understood as geometrical). The typical figure of territorial division was a square The choice of the geometrical figure of the square first needs to be reflected on, in order to remind us of some of the concepts of the Mathematics of the Origins. In all parts of the ancient world, it symbolised Earth itself as a mirror of the Sky. It is the form of the man-made Earth which complies with the concept of Harmony. Thus it acquired a certain sacredness, which also included the protection of the boundaries of property. For example, marks of divinity were placed at the intersections of the lines of territorial division, such as crossroads. These were later transformed into shrines, where saints and madonnas appeared from the Middle Ages onwards. If we look today for evidence of ancient spatial divisions, the presence of repeated crossroads marked by shrines is often an indication of an ancient ritual division of the lands. The measurements of the Roman centuriationes I propose to investigate, through the analysis of its measurements, whether the Roman ETS can qualify as Etruscan by virtue of elements which can undeniably be attributed to the Etruscan world; and whether the principles of the Mathematics of the Origins can be identified in it.

Dal primato dello sguardo alla costruzione di un metodo. La teorica del frammento vuole occuparsi della " questione del frammento " in architettura secondo una attitudine critica che pur assumendo il frammento come tratto paradigmatico della città contemporanea, a questa realtà non vuole conformarsi e cerca di opporle, con l'obbiettivo di consegnarlo ad una più lunga durata, una modalità per recuperare questo differente modo di permanere 1 ; il tentativo di costruzione del metodo si dipana dunque attraverso l'evoluzione dell'attenzione intorno a questo tema da un tipo di interesse puramente individuale, percettivo, per l'appunto di " sguardo " , verso una dimensione di maggiore condivisibilità dove il frammento invece che elemento di poetica, sia occasione di riflessione teorica intorno a quello che la città è e a ciò che può diventare. Frammento" nella lingua italiana significa un piccolo pezzo staccato per frattura da un corpo qualunque. E con ciò esso esprime una speranza, ancora una speranza, e come tale non conviene con rottame, che esprime una moltitudine o un aggregato di cose rotte. In questa dizione, rottame potrebbe essere il corpo della città futura se le cose non dovessero cambiare e sempre più fosse accettato il disordine e poco meditata la previsione del futuro. (…) Per questo credo anche nella città futura come quella dove si ricompongono i frammenti di qualcosa di rotto dall'origine 2. La frammentazione che oggi, senza distinzione di parti, caratterizza il contesto urbano, è un dato di fatto dal quale un progetto che in esso operi e si fondi non può prescindere. Ma la centralità della questione non consiste nel riconoscere una situazione la cui evidenza è lampante, non risiede, come conseguenza della perduta 1 Comprendere a fondo lucidamente, senza rifiuti a priori, il mutamento che attraversa l'architettura e la città e il territorio (…) e lo scacco in cui si mette continuamente la nostra disciplina, non significa accettarne le attuali condizioni (…) ma risalire ad esse e criticarne i fondamenti con atti di resistenza concreti ed esemplari, con la pazienza che ci proviene dall'idea di modificazione critica come autentico nuovo: essa deve guardare al proprio passato come al suolo su cui si fonda, per misurare e dare forma al distacco che da esso muove verso la comprensione profonda della lunga traiettoria del presente assai prima che del futuro. Vittorio Gregotti, L'architettura del realismo critico,

Art and Architecture are two meaningful parts of the humanity cultural heritage, being a product from the human artistry they are subject to the declination of the taste, of the styles, of the decisions of the historical period they belong to.
In this case study, the specific approach to the Ammannati’s Juno Fountain opens the paths to a series of lectures and interpretations to clearly read the original shape and setup of an “unrealized” masterpiece from the XV Century.
The physical reconstruction, kept in the National Museum of Bargello in Florence, leave open the “mistery” about the original Ammannati’s plot, the design intentions he was bringing on for the “Sala Grande” in Palazzo Vecchio.
To correctly read them and to define correct strategy of intervention the need to understand and have a clear knowledge about the contest and the studied monument is mandatory, any choice far from this will fail or in the worst situation may cause fake interpretations.
Results
The investigation will be proposed to hypothesize about this meaningful monument and its possible asset inside the “Sala Grande” before the Vasari’s intervention (today it call “Salone dei Cinquecento”).
The resetting of fountain involved questions about original project of south wall of “Sala Grande” that was part integrating of the Monument.
Innovations
This kind of reasoning represent an important step to apply an academic study to display matters. In fact, the part developed is peculiar for to communicate at Palazzo Vecchio’s visitors that the Salone is changed and that they can find a piece of the old configuration in the Bargello.
The acquaintance on the space that contained the Fountain is important in order to understand the Ammannati’s masterpiece. So the theory part is the first step to develop a Site Specific Project.
The digital modeling based on accurate 3D scanner survey allowed to use high quality models to verify and check the possible reconstructions and combinations from the single pieces to the possible original setup. The use of physical light simulation and of virtual sun positioning system, allowed the correct conditions to “see” the possible Ammanati’s plots behind the “fontana di sala grande” project.

The paper introduces part of an on-going research on “sacred site and museum of itself", in which the sacred sites idea is based on the concept of totemism expressed by Durkheim (1924). According to the anthropologist, primitive communities recognize themselves and practice rituals into places that are not commonly conceived as religious, and then, to this interpretation, both religious and secular places could be part of the category of sacred sites. In particular, some of these places have astonishing artistic, architectural, or symbolic values that, in accordance with the observations on museums by Coppellotti (1994), make them the museums of themselves, and recall huge numbers of both tourists and believers.
Considering this frame of reference, could a sacred site be also an exhibition space without losing part of his specificity? Can a space maintain its sacred character despite the mass tourism? Since the different kinds of visitors, tourists and believers, have different prerogatives and purposes, can a commune narrative reach them all?
To answer to these questions, the study investigates two case studies: the Monumental Complex of Santa Croce, in Florence, and the Maracanã Stadium, in Rio de Janeiro. The first one represents the “classic” religious case: the sacred place for the Christian religion with an outstanding artistic and architectonical heritage. Here, as well as in other European cathedrals, the discussion upon the relation between sacred-museum is an unsolved matter (Gathan, 2011). The second case introduces the concept of contemporary sacred site. Locally and universally considered as the temple of soccer, the Maracanã Stadium is the “mecca” for supporters, the second tourist spot in Rio, and the most important secular symbol for Brazilians.

https://geniusloci2016.wordpress.com/program-programa/

Presentazione all'interno del convegno "Il MMAB di Montelupo Fiorentino verso il futuro: spazi, modelli, funzioni, nuovi pubblici". Altri relatori: Alessandro Bollo, Fondazione Polo del '900 di Torino, Luca Dal Pozzolo Fondazione Fitzcarraldo, Maurizio Vivarelli, Università di Torino, Barbara Mantovi, MULTIPLO Centro cultura Cavriago.