My paper will take a closer look at Domenico Fontana’s Della Trasportatione dell’Obelisco Vaticano et delle Fabriche di Nostro Signore Papa Sisto V (Rome, 1590), focusing on the book’s typology and representational functions. The Trasportatione is a book on architecture, but not on architectural theory; it is not a “vita” (although large parts of it were incorporated by Bellori in his “Vite”), and it is not only the (albeit fascinating) account of moving the obelisk. It is a monumental and prestigious monograph – written and probably also designed by the architect himself. As such, it was the prototype a new and successful genre of architectural literature to which belong publications as Borromini’s Opera and Opus architectonicum, Schinkel’s Sammlung architektonischer Entwürfe or Wright’s Wasmuth Portfolio.

As suggested by the title, Fontana’s book takes part in the complex propaganda machinery ideated by the Peretti pope and his circle to celebrate the papal architectural and urbanistic enterprises as “opere buone” and the creation of a new, truly Christian “Roma felix.” The Trasportatione was one of the first projects of the newly founded Typographia Vaticana, and emerged from a close collaboration with the head of the papal painting equipe, Giovanni Guerra.

At the same time, the book is one of the principal vehicles of Fontana’s fama. Unlike his probable model, Andrea Palladio, who had inserted his own projects as exempla in the larger context of an architectural theory, Fontana presents an immediate and impressive visual “document” of his matchless – and model – career, starting with the “coup de théatre”, the obelisk’s translation, and consequently interweaving his own performances with the pope’s enterprises. This strategy can be traced also in a frescoed frieze in Fontana’s house showing his (and Sixtus’s) Roman buildings, and finally in the design of the papal catafalque.

The Czech art historian Pavel Preiss pointed out how small the region was from which Italian artists came to the Bohemian kingdom. Writing about the artisti dei laghi, Preiss’s aim was to give a synthetic overview of all Swiss or Lombard artists working in the kingdom from the Renaissance to the Baroque period.

One might expect that these migrant artists would bring the Renaissance style to Bohemia. However, the windows of the Vladislaus Hall give evidence that there was an attempt to deal with the new fashion before the Welsch (i.e. foreigners) came. The first Italians came to Prague when the Hapsburg dynasty gains the Bohemian throne. Thus, in the beginning, the foreigners are strongly linked to the monarchy and to the Catholic church. Studying Bohemia in the period of the Renaissance and beyond , one cannot neglect the impact that the deep political, religious and social changes coming along after the Bohemian Reformation have on land, culture, society and arts. Architectural style must be seen as a visual demonstration of power, loyalty, soon also legitimacy, identity and the affiliation to true faith.

Around 1600, ecclesiastic buildings start to show Gothic forms. The surprising aspect of this Gothic survival/revival is that not local architects, but the artists from the laghi pick up the medieval tradition. With Jan Blažej Santini Aichel, a third generation Italian architect born in Prague, this trend will reach its climax with perfect harmony between imported and local traditions.

This paper takes Preiss’s excellent study as a point of departure, and seeks to show that cultural exchange works either way: while the first generation of migrant artists establishes the new style in Bohemia, the next will come under the influence of local traditions and start using them as a source of inspiration.

L’opera architettonica romana di Carlo Buratti (1651-1734) è fortemente segnata dalle sue origini ticinesi (egli era nato a Novazzano). Anzi, a dire il vero, la sua provenienza geografica è il nucleo fondante intorno al quale si vengono ad aggregare i tre aspetti più importanti della sua attività. Il rapporto di discepolato con Carlo Fontana al quale era legato da rapporti di parentela, le prime relazioni di committenza con Livio Odescalchi e la perfetta organizzazione tecnica che egli seppe conferire ai suoi cantieri, avvalendosi di maestranze lombardo-ticinesi, sono eventi strettamente connessi tra loro che ruotano tutti proprio intorno all’origine lombardo-ticinese.

Livio Odescalchi fu il primo committente romano di Carlo Buratti. Esponente di una famiglia di ricchi banchieri comaschi, si trasferì a Roma in seguito all’elezione di suo zio Innocenzo XI al soglio pontificio. Soffermandosi su alcuni lavori progettati e diretti da Buratti nel primo Settecento per l’Odescalchi (la villa sulla via Flaminia a Roma, le opere a Bracciano e a Vetralla) il contributo cercherà di far emergere il forte spirito di appartenenza che contraddistinse il loro rapporto di committenza esclusivo. D’altro canto, è ormai un dato acquisito dalla critica il forte legame di solidarietà tra committenti, artefici e maestranze provenienti dalla zona dei laghi lombardi nella Roma del Settecento. È possibile ravvisare questo legame anche nei cantieri promossi dal principe Odescalchi dove Carlo Buratti diresse artefici proprio di origine lombardo-ticinese. In questi cantieri, finanziati da un committente di origine comasca e diretti da un architetto di origini ticinesi, è possibile documentare maestranze della stessa provenienza geografica, Giacomo Pozzi «figlio di Angelo da Coldrè, Diocesi di Como», il mastro Benedetto Rossi, che nei documenti è detto «figlio del quondam Andrea da Alburo, diocesi di Milano» e il mastro fabbricatore Giovan Battista Fontana.