TITLE:
The Interventions of Pietro da Cortona in the Crypt of Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome, Studied through a Morphometric Three-Dimensional Survey
AUTHORS:
Lorenzo Pio Massimo Martino
KEYWORDS:
Laser Scanner 3D, Pietro da Cortona, History of Architecture, Santa Maria in Via Lata, Rome
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Civil Engineering,
Vol.4 No.2,
May
26,
2014
ABSTRACT: Twenty years after
the last archaeological researches and surveys, a new investigation has been
carried out on the basement in the church of Santa Maria in Via Lata in Rome.
The study has employed three-dimensional surveys with laser scanning
methodology and has focused both on archaeological and architectural issues.
Indeed, the present layout of the basement derives from a XVII century
remodelling of early Christian and medieval spaces planned by Pietro da
Cortona. The architect gave a unique setting and composition to the underground
spaces, different in shapes and building materials, thanks to the refinement of
his baroque language. Though he worked in small spaces with static problems
connected to the foundations and to the loads of the church rising above, and
with poor lighting and extreme dampness, Pietro da Cortona put skilfully together
“modern” elements with ancient or historical pre-existences. The study focuses
on Berrettini’s design process through a three-dimensional analysis with CAD
systems, starting from the new XVII century fa?ade and from the articulated
distribution of routes that led to the intimate underground interiors. Metrical
processing gave the possibility to improve the knowledge about room geometry
and to confirm the interpretations put forward by major scholars such as Krautheimer
and Cavazzi.