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.
Andrea dall’Aquila • Medieval architecture • Medieval • Lieu de mémoire • Urban History • Byzantine • High Middle Ages • Reuse of building materials • Venice • Early modern commercial institutions • Acqua alta • Rialto • Giustizia • Spolia • Alessandro Vittoria • Banks • San Giacomo di Rialto • Venetian Architecture • Concieri • Marbles • History of Architecture • Romanesque • History of Venice • Venetian Trade Guilds • Medieval town • Greek cruciform • Early modern trade • Trading places • Restoration • Early Byzantine Capitals • Venetian Renaissance Sculpture • Basilica • Vigilio Rubini • Church of San Giacomo at Rialto • Reused materials • Ancient Roman Capitals • Venetian early modern architecture • Stones • Bridge of Rialto • Venetian Republic