Space and mentality: a new frontier for the History of Architecture?

Abstract

The PhD research has underlined cross-disciplinary topics that help to analyze the History of architecture with more open view, new for the Italian discipline. In particular I want to concentrate my essay on mental and cultural structures with which people elaborate the space that perceive, plan and live.The study case concerns Italian pictorial cycles in which the city is the main subject. These are often situated in buildings that were the seat of an authority, from XVI century to XVIII. The relationship between space possession, necessity to drawing its quantity and quality, and way to ostentation these artistic products, shows the particular ‘sentiment’ towards space in modern Italy.