Layers of Venice
Architecture, Arts and Antiquities at Rialto
abstract
The book offers a greater understanding of the multiple layers of meaning that have been superimposed in the course of the Medieval and Modern Ages in the Rialto area. The authors follow the Leitmotiv of the memorial component that each operation of architectural reuse has carried in the history of the church of San Giacomo di Rialto, a building which stands, emblematically, as a sort of architectural relic. Adopting this principle, the book offers an in-depth analysis of the spatial model, the reuse of individual architectural and decorative elements but also, on a larger scale, the different configurations of the urban context (the Rialto market) through the centuries, after repeated destruction, reconstruction and transformation. By adopting this multi-scale approach, the book reveals the key role played by the church in the narrative strategy adopted to perpetually renew the myth of Venice, taking on a conceptual and polysemantic dimension where each component (object, context, meaning, function, image) constitutes an element cultural memory, with each leaving a tangible trace of its own.
Urban History • History of Architecture • Venice • High Middle Ages • Andrea dall’Aquila • Lieu de mémoire • San Giacomo di Rialto • Early Byzantine Capitals • Church of San Giacomo at Rialto • Trading places • Reused materials • Marbles • Acqua alta • Medieval architecture • Alessandro Vittoria • History of Venice • Vigilio Rubini • Stones • Early modern trade • Romanesque • Byzantine • Rialto • Bridge of Rialto • Spolia • Medieval • Restoration • Venetian early modern architecture • Banks • Venetian Republic • Venetian Trade Guilds • Basilica • Medieval town • Venetian Architecture • Giustizia • Venetian Renaissance Sculpture • Ancient Roman Capitals • Concieri • Early modern commercial institutions • Greek cruciform • Reuse of building materials