Eredità medievali e linguaggio all’antica negli interni delle chiese romane di Sant’Agostino e Santa Maria del Popolo

Abstract

The essay compares the works carried out under Sixtus IV in the Roman churches of Sant’Agostino and Santa Maria del Popolo,
an expression of innovative architectural solutions, such as the covering of the interiors with cross vaults taken from Antiquity
and the façades inspired by the model of Alberti’s church of Santa Maria Novella. As in most Roman architecture of the time,
there is also a remarkable link with the medieval tradition. Particularly in interiors, the antique connotation given by the vaults
is blended with solutions of medieval derivation. The association of heterogeneous languages is developed in the two churches
in very different ways, due to their different building history. On the one hand, the interior of Santa Maria del Popolo, probably
realised in a single phase, revives, with coherent results, the architectural quality of ancient spaces, applied to a layout of medieval
tradition. On the other hand, the long and complex building process of Sant’Agostino can be related to anomalies and
discontinuities among parts dating back to different periods.

Keywords : Rome, 15th century, Ancient, Middle Ages.