Medieval Landscapes in Italy

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Medieval Landscapes in Italy

• Electronic Tutorials were created by Jack
  Sullivan, Assistant Professor, for the History of
  Landscape Architecture (LARC 263), a survey
  course in the Department of Natural Resource
  Sciences and Landscape Architecture, College of
  Agriculture and Natural Resources, University of
  Maryland.
• This presentation was made possible with
  Instructional Improvement Grants in 1995 and 1996
  from the Center for Teaching Excellence. The
  following knowledgeable, patient and generous
  team of players were invaluable to the making of
  these digital compilations. Thank you all for the
  hard work and technical lessons.
• Tamela D. Michaels, Graduate Student, Technical
  Support, Colleague
• Fernando Urrea, Technical Support
• David Jones, Technical Support
• The images used in these tutorials are from
  personal collections and from the collections of
  the School of Architecture at the University of
  Maryland. The numbers on each image correspond
  with those in the database housed at the
  Architecture Slide Library.

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The Medieval Garden
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• The Medieval Period
• The garden in medieval life was an intensely used
  space within the confines of the castle
  fortification. Access was limited to those who
  toiled in its preparation and maintenance and
  those elite who enjoyed its aromatic, visual,
  medicinal and horticultural pleasures. Pieter
  Brueghels Spring and a manuscript illustration
  of an enclosed courtyard garden illustrate some
  of these aspects of the garden environment and
  use.

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Medieval Beginnings

• Unique compositions of defensive towers
  characterized each settlement throughout the
  Italian landscape in the 12th and 13th centuries.
  The vertical signature, seen on the horizon, was
  read from great distances. Counterbalancing this
  architectural form was the common public space of
  the piazza, or town square. Here the shared
  effort of the community was made visible by the
  volume of space set aside for the commercial,
  religious, social and political purposes.

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The Towers of San Gimignano
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• Within this labyrinthine network of towers,
  buildings and narrow streets is a sequence of
  spaces that defines the urban character of the
  city of San Gimignano at eye level. Two major
  piazzas, the Piazza del Cisterno (of the cistern,
  or well) and the Piazza del Puopolo (of the
  people) are significant places where the focus of
  daily life occurs. These piazzas are welcome
  openings in the restricting passages that lead
  through the city. Winding, seemingly indirect
  streets roll up the terrain toward the piazzas,
  strategically disorienting the stranger.

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San Gimignano

• The city of San Gimignano is a readily
  distinguishable urban landmark in the Tuscan
  hills. The silhouette of the cluster of towering
  structures was a guidepost to traveling merchants
  and peasant farmers alike. Within the supporting
  walls of the city, competing feudal lords
  constructed the towers in a show of might and
  control. Like the corporate barons of our own
  times who have transformed the Manhattan skyline
  in an egotistical pursuit of prestige and
  recognition, the lords of San Gimignano marked
  the land with these aggressive symbols of
  strength.

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The Piazza in San Gimignano

• The Piazza del Cisterno and the Piazza del Duomo
  are tenuously connected by a narrow passage,
  allowing them to exist in close proximity, yet
  remain distinct from each other in function,
  character and spatial configuration. The Piazza
  del Cisterno, triangular in plan, is entered at
  the corners, giving a sensation of a space that
  generously opens outward and away from the
  observer. There is a dynamic quality to the
  three-dimensional volume created by walls at
  acute angles to each other. The Piazza del
  Puopolo, on the other hand, is an L-shaped and
  rectilinear form, stable and static, seemingly
  occupied by the mass of the basilica and its
  grand stair, both of which are flanked by the
  Palace of the Government.

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Siena
Piazza del Duomo
Piazza del Campo
Piazza del Mercato
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• Siena, like San Gimignano, is characterized by
  the typical medieval meandering street pattern.
  Almost as if they were a direct interpretation of
  the topographical contours, the streets weave
  circuitously through the architectural structures
  that house shops, homes and churches. Just as the
  visitor is about to experience an anxious moment
  of confusion and frustration, the tunnel of space
  turns toward one of two piazzas, the Piazza del
  Duomo (the cathedral square) or the Piazza del
  Campo (the field, or encampment). Here the relief
  is tangibly recognized and greatly appreciated. A
  third major piazza, Piazza del Mercato (the
  market square), is located near the Campo, just
  outside the Palazzo del Puopolo.

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SienasPiazza del Campo

• The large scale of the spatial volume and the
  dominating architectural structures of the Palace
  and Tower distinguish the Piazza del Campo. The
  bowl-like enclosure created by the buildings is
  further articulated in the sloping surface that
  drains toward the loggia at the base of the
  tower. The concavity of this enveloping space is
  inviting and comforting even while it maintains a
  scale that is monumental and a character that is
  majestic. Il Campo proudly claims a grand
  position in the fabric of the city.

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The Streets of Siena

• The narrow streets of Siena maintain a pedestrian
  scale and liveliness that is reinforced by the
  architectural rhythm and detail of doors,
  windows, surface decoration and rooflines. The
  winding direction and limited views help to build
  anticipation in the participant as he/she
  progresses toward the nearest piazza.

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The Space of the Campo
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• Over time, the Piazza del Campo has developed a
  very refined level of detail in the paving
  pattern that accentuates the sloping floor and
  pays homage to the central focus of the space,
  the tower. The permanent landscape furnishings
  like the bollard posts that separate the inner
  circle from the perimeter track add to the
  clarity of the subsidiary space within the larger
  frame.

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A Record of Time in the Campo
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• Like the gnomon on the face of a sundial, the
  tower of the Palazzo del Puopolo casts a shadow
  on the arcing plane of the piazza floor, artfully
  registering the time of day in the season of the
  yearly cycle. Light and shadow are as much
  determinants of the spatial character of the
  piazza as are the buildings that enclose it.
  Ceremonial events like the twice-yearly Palio, a
  reenactment of medieval war games and horse
  races, are colorful illustrations of the temporal
  quality of this place.

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Venice
Piazza San Marco
The Grand Canal
721

• Venice existed only as an undistinguished, marshy
  archipelago until the 11th century when the
  islands were gradually occupied and eventually
  filled with the dredged soils of the shallow
  channels. The architectural definition given to
  the seawalls and buildings on piling supports
  established a clearly delineated canal system.
  The influence of trade contacts in the Far East
  produced a sophisticated merchant class and a
  city of unusual and exotic splendor.

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Piazza San Marco

• The Piazza San Marco, named for the patron saint
  of the Venetians, has evolved from a simple and
  relatively small forecourt to the original
  basilica to what is today a grand public forum.
  The two legs of the L-shaped space share the
  eloquent and free-standing bell tower and use it
  as a unifying fulcrum, spinning into one unit the
  main piazza that is the front of the
  Byzantine-style basilica, and the secondary
  piazzetta that leads to the Grand Canal.

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The Character of the Piazza San Marco
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• This beautifully structured and handsomely
  detailed space has an intimate and complementary
  relationship with the palace residences,
  religious structures, academic institutions and
  commercial enterprises that frame it. The richly
  decorated Cathedral of St. Mark, its famed
  Campanile, and the Doges Palace are three of the
  most outstanding architectural figures in this
  unique landscape. Although the basilica and the
  tower prominently occupy the intersection of the
  two rectangular subspaces, all of the buildings
  play important roles in defining the overwhelming
  sense of harmony and unity.

15
The Streets of Venice

• The narrow commercial and residential streets of
  Venice preclude the use of automobiles in the
  city. Aside from the occasional motorized
  bicycle, the pedestrian is spared the exhaust
  fumes and vehicular conflict that most
  contemporary citizens endure. Like the
  labyrinths through most Medieval urban centers,
  the Venetian streets can be disorienting and, at
  times, frustratingly indirect. The piazzas and
  views to the open sea provide a welcome contrast

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The Canals of Venice
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• The major means of transportation other than foot
  travel, is the use of the boat, gondola or
  vaporetto, the motorized water taxi. The canals,
  though, are more than circulation routes and
  service access corridors. The canals of Venice
  determine the quality of the light, the
  tangibility of the air, the intimate contact with
  the sky below, and the mystical aspect of a city
  mirrored at the floor. The city is beautifully
  articulated in a patina of textures and colors
  that reflect the time passed and the vane
  attempts to mask its age.

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Piazza Views

• The Basilica of San Marco is an richly ornamented
  Byzantine structure characterized by the onion
  domes that crown it. It is the focus of both the
  grand piazza and the piazzetta that leads to the
  sea. In the photo on the right, the approach from
  the sea gives a view of the basilica in the
  context of the Doges Palace (right), the
  Sansovino library on the left and the brick
  campanile. Straight ahead, just to the left of
  St. Marks, the Merchants Hall façade is
  embellished with an early mechanical clock, a
  symbol of a new order and a new concept of time.

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Resources

• Jellicoe, Geoffrey and Susan. The Landscape of
  Man Shaping the Environment from Prehistory to
  the Present Day. The Viking Press New York,
  1975.
• Newton, Norman T. Design on the Land The
  Development of Landscape Architecture. Harvard
  University Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1971.
• Moore, Charles W., William J. Mitchell, and
  William Turnbull, Jr. The Poetics of Gardens. The
  MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1988.