| Francesco di Giorgio was born in 1439 at Siena, where he died in 1502. A major military and civil architect, an important painter and sculptor, he is historically significant as the first of a line of architects and engineers who became the practical executors of Renaissance rulers' political aspirations through the construction of cities and fortresses. Through his anthropomorphic analogies, Francesco di Giorgio attempted to understand and express the systemic integrity of the community and the symbiotic relationship of the functional and aesthetic components of the city which is an extension of man. The city is the well-regulated, orderly community making provision for both the physical and cultural needs of its inhabitants, and able to come to its own defense. For larger political/geographic entities a system of fortifications placed at strategic points is necessary to keep the commonwealth together in war and peace. He developed a coherent theory of defense and defensible space and designed according to its principles.;The manuscripts are a principal source of the master's thinking and designs and help in identifying structures, previously unknown, designed or reworked by Francesco di Giorgio. This project has required a review of all the known correspondence between Francesco di Giorgio and his patrons, a search for new documents and archival sources, field surveys of the cities, towns and sites associated with his interventions, including the territory of Siena, the Marche, Naples, Southern Italy (primarily the Puglie) and the areas associated with the Orsini family. Methodologically, library and archival work alternated with field work in an attempt to understand both the theoretical and practical approaches of this seminal thinker and prescient architect of the high Renaissance whose influence has been felt, though little recognized, until our own time.;Francesco di Giorgio's manuscript Trattati were very influential and exemplify the development of fortification and urban design in the early era of artillery. He designed towns employing rectilinear concentric and radial plans within a defensive system composed of straight and diagonal walls articulated at their corners by towers for enfilading fire. With respect to town planning, he is among those who formed the concept of the "Ideal City" which, in the work of 16('th) century Italian architects, developed into the planned, heavily fortified, radial city. |
