Francesco Di Giorgio Martini

Francesco di Giorgio Martini ci ha lasciato alcuni dei più antichi disegni di Villa Adriana, databili verso il 1465 e 1479. Li ho studiati e pubblicati nel mio ultimo libro "Villa Adriana, Accademia, Hadrian's Secret Garden". Parlerò del suo rapporto con Leonardo e con Villa Adriana, delle informazioni che si possono trarre dalle sue piante e dai disegni confrontandoli con i risultati del nostro rilievo.

La nouvelle attribution d'un album d'artillerie napolitain permet de jeter un oeil neuf sur l'arsenal aragonais à la veille des guerres d'Italie, et sur la victoire française, parfois interprétée comme une conséquence de la supériorité balistique et bureaucratique de l'armée de Charles VIII. L'album de « portraits » de canons conservé aux Estampes de la Bibliothèque nationale de France n'avait jamais été correctement attribué ni daté, et demeurait par conséquent très peu étudié. Son exécution en 1474 par le peintre napolitain Giosué Cantelmo montre la précocité de l'organisation administrative de l'armée napolitaine qui prend soin de dresser un inventaire visuel complet de son arsenal dès les années de paix de Ferdinand Ier (1458-1494), c'est-à-dire 25 ans avant les plus célèbres inventaires dessinés pour Philippe l'Ingénu ou pour l'empereur Maximilien. Ce manuscrit s'avère également être un témoin extraordinaire de bombardes que nous connaissions uniquement par leur description dans les archives, la célèbre « Napoletana » par exemple. Ainsi, loin d'être pris au dépourvu par la « descente » de Charles VIII, les Aragonais de Naples ont manifesté un intérêt constant pour leur préparation militaire, des fortifications à l'artillerie. La présence de cet inventaire dessiné de l'arsenal montre une force de feu qui semble néanmoins assez peu importante en comparaison d'arsenaux européens. Le manuscrit témoigne pourtant d'une entreprise de rationalisation de l'armée napolitaine, qui passe également par la création de la charge de « trésorier de l'armée », à l'instar de l'armée française contemporaine. Nous pouvons donc nous demander si la victoire de Charles VIII n'est pas avant tout la conséquence d'une nouvelle manière de conduire la guerre que celle d'une véritable supériorité technologique. Abstract The Neapolitan artillery just before the Italian wars : an ignored inventory of the second half of the 15th century

abstract – Leonardo da Vinci's town planning studies and projects for the urban renewal of Milan under the patronage of Ludovico Sforza are influenced by both the specific characteristics and morphology of Lombard cities and the organic ground of a philosophical and political conception that he possibly derived – on the basis of some classical sources, such as Vitruvius and St. Augustine – through the combination of the knowledge of Alberti's architectural mastery and a personal acquaintance with the colleague Francesco di Giorgio Martini.

To affirm his political regime, Pandolfo Petrucci (1452-1512) took advantage of the potentialities
given by the Camera del Comune. It had been the arsenal of the city of Siena for a long time, but
Pandolfo changed its organization and widened its assignments. The maintenance and production
of weapons was still the principal purpose of this institution of the city. Under Pandolfo the production
of artilleries, ammunitions and the fortification activity was increased, thanks to specialists
like Francesco di Giorgio, Giacomo Cozzarelli and Vannoccio Biringucci, personalities who deeply
influenced the technical and military culture of all Europe. The Camera del Comune also managed
the military intelligence, useful tool to the dissembling politics of the Petrucci, and to the management
of the army. The Army of Siena was composed by a Condotta in Aspetto, which Pandolfo used
to create alliances. But the most important troops were the Provvisionati di Piazza, a professional
infantry faithful to the political regime and depending, both economically and for the supply of
weapons, on the Chamber of the town and the leadership of Pandolfo. The military politics of Pandolfo
Petrucci brought Siena among the greatest European powers of that time but its purposes,
mainly finalized to the maintenance of his own personal power, obstructed a true modernization
of the war apparatus of Siena, which in the following years had been inferior than its adversaries.

Intervento nel seminario "La fortezza di Montefeltro. San Leo: processi di trasformazione, archeologia dell'architettura e restauri storici", organizzato dalla Scuola interdisciplinare di Storia dell'Arte e dalla Scuola di Conservazione e Restauro dell'Università degli Studi di Urbino "Carlo Bo". Urbino, 29 marzo 2017, palazzo Battiferri.

El presente artículo se centra en
reconstruir la teoría del espacio secreto, de
conductos y pasajes ocultos, que surgió desde
mediados del siglo XV hasta mediados del XVI.
Arquitectos y humanistas como Leon Battista
Alberti y Francesco di Giorgio Martini hicieron
acopio del interés de la nobleza por detentar el
poder mediante una nueva conceptualización de
la arquitectura palaciega en la que cobró notable
importancia la distinción entre espacios
públicos y secretos, de aquello que debía ser
visible o, por el contrario, permanecer oculto.
Los ecos de esta teoría, mediada por tratados
posteriores como el de Sebastiano Serlio, pueden
rastrearse en obras dramáticas del siglo XVI
y principios del XVII como las de Bartolomé
Torres Naharro o Lope de Vega, tanto en Italia
como en la península ibérica.
***
This article traces the increasing
theorization of secret spaces tailored for the
prince’s household in 15th- and 16th-century
architectural treatises. From Leon Battista Alberti
to Francesco di Giorgio Martini, architects and
humanists conceived of the prince’s household
as one in which secret and public spaces were
carefully distinguished. A number of architectural
devices, such as secret doors, private stairs and
listening tubes were designed so that the prince
could be able to control all movements in his
household. The echoes of this theorization,
mediated by later treatises, such as that by
Sebastiano Serlio, can be traced in 16th- and
17th-century literary works, such as those by
Bartolomé Torres Naharro or Lope de Vega,
both in the Italian and the Iberian Peninsula.

Il Torrione di Bitonto è una imponente struttura fortificata, che la Storiografia locale ha genericamente
attribuita alla fine del Trecento sulla base di un “Diploma” regio allusivo alla presenza in città di un
castellano, ma che, invece, dal punto di vista morfologico può essere più verosimilmente connessa alla
metà del XV secolo; in particolare la committenza di G. Ventimiglia e di M. Curiale, importanti famigli
del Re napoletano, va chiamata in causa per un manufatto, come quello bitontino, particolarmente
aggiornato alle prescrizioni della Trattatistica ossidionale moderna (di Leon Battista Alberti in
particolare) e a quanto si andava realizzando in Castelnuovo a Napoli. Verso la fine del secolo, poi, una
serie di disegni di F. di Giorgio Martini, presente in Puglia in diversi momenti, sembra testimoniare un
interessamento dell’Ingegnere senese all’aggiornamento del Torrione con sproni e casematte.

First complete epoch-making survey on history of architecture in the Marche's region in central Italy, from classical Era to Liberty Era. Matter is divided by stylistic periods, each with a general historical and critical essay supplied by several reports on most significant monuments of the period. The study, in pp.516, is supported with n.670 color  and b/w photos, drawings and architectural plans, .A basic reference book.
ISBN-13: 9788840411187 ;  ISBN-10: 8840411186

Although small, the village of Sant'Antonio Rocchetta has a long history documented as a part of the territories of these political transformations, from the Middle Ages to the dilution of the Kingdom of Naples. Evolution itself of its place names - from the ancient Rocca Antimo, around which it was developed, the original urban core, in Rocchetta S. Antonio - you can re-read the history of the country at least since at least the eleventh century. From the early years of the sixteenth century this story is closely linked to the presence of the Castle, built by Ladislaus II of Aquino in 1507. It can not say that The Castle Aquinas is an unknown fortification; its particular shape planimetric with a triangular base with three bastions of “almond shape” or, if you will, to “bec d'éperon” (a spur beak) - as the origin of form is due to the French castles of the XI-XII century - has always struck the military architecture scholars, and particularly for its formal similarity with the fortifications of the greatest architect and military writer of the Renaissance in the second half of the fifteenth century, that is the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini. The importance of the architect, also commissioned by the major short and noble age - and especially for us by the Aragonese court of Naples - is witnessed by the operating result which had its original and updated works obsidional to new posts to the benchmarks with the technological improvement of firearms and the use of gunpowder, more devastating and feared. A retinue of followers architects and military engineers engaged in the fortification of the Kingdom under the constant threat of the Muslim enemy. Among these, among which we remember especially the florentine Antonio Marchesi from Settignano, must lie the author or at least the implementer of Castello d'Aquino on the model pioneered and popularized by Francesco di Giorgio.

Although small, the village of Sant'Antonio Rocchetta has a long history documented as a part of the territories of these political transformations, from the Middle Ages to the dilution of the Kingdom of Naples. Evolution itself of its place names - from the ancient Rocca Antimo, around which it was developed, the original urban core, in Rocchetta S. Antonio - you can re-read the history of the country at least since at least the eleventh century.
From the early years of the sixteenth century this story is closely linked to the presence of the Castle, built by Ladislaus II of Aquino in 1507.
It can not say that The Castle Aquinas is an unknown fortification; its particular shape planimetric with a triangular base with three bastions of “almond shape” or, if you will, to “bec d'éperon” (a spur beak) - as the origin of form is due to the French castles of the XI-XII century - has always struck the military architecture scholars, and particularly for its formal similarity with the fortifications of the greatest architect and military writer of the Renaissance in the second half of the fifteenth century, that is the Sienese architect Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
The importance of the architect, also commissioned by the major short and noble age - and especially for us by the Aragonese court of Naples - is witnessed by the operating result which had its original and updated works obsidional to new posts to the benchmarks with the technological improvement of firearms and the use of gunpowder, more devastating and feared. A retinue of followers architects and military engineers engaged in the fortification of the Kingdom under the constant threat of the Muslim enemy. Among these, among which we remember especially the florentine Antonio Marchesi from Settignano, must lie the author or at least the implementer of Castello d'Aquino on the model pioneered and popularized by Francesco di Giorgio.

Seppur piccolo, il paese di Rocchetta Sant’Antonio ha una sua antica storia documentata nell’ambito delle trasformazioni politiche di questi territori, dal medioevo alla diluizione del Regno di Napoli. Dall’evoluzione stessa dei suoi toponimi - dalla antica Rocca di Sant’Antimo, attorno alla quale si era sviluppato il nucleo urbano originario, a Rocchetta S. Antonio – si può rileggere la storia del paese almeno a partire almeno dall’XI° secolo.
A partire dai primi anni del XVI° secolo questa storia si è legata strettamente alla presenza del Castello, voluto da Ladislao II° d’Aquino nel 1507.
Non si può affermare che Il Castello d’Aquino sia una fortificazione sconosciuta; la sua particolare conformazione planimetrica a base triangolare con tre bastioni di forma a mandorla o, se vogliamo, a bec d'éperon (a becco di sperone) - in quanto l’origine della forma si deve ai castelli francesi dell’XI-XII secolo – ha sempre colpito gli studiosi di architettura militare, ed in particolare per la sua assonanza formale con le opere fortificate del più grande architetto e trattatista militare del Rinascimento nella seconda metà del XV° secolo, cioè il senese Francesco di Giorgio Martini.
L’importanza del personaggio, commissionato dalle più importanti corti e signorie dell’epoca - e particolarmente per noi dalla corte aragonese di Napoli – è testimoniata anche dal seguito operativo che ebbero le sue opere originali ed aggiornate ai nuovi criteri ossidionali resisi indispensabili col perfezionamento tecnologico delle armi da fuoco e dell’uso della polvere da sparo, sempre più devastante e temuto. Un seguito di epigoni architetti ed ingegneri militari impegnati nella fortificazione del Regno sotto il costante pericolo del nemico musulmano. Fra questi, tra i quali si ricorda in particolare il fiorentino Antonio Marchesi da Settignano, andrebbe ricercato l’autore o quantomeno il realizzatore del Castello d’Aquino sul modello sperimentato e diffuso da Francesco di Giorgio.