Il Suffragio di Forlì e la diffusione periferica dei modelli del Barocco romano dell’Accademia di San Luca

Developing the concept of an artistic masterpiece, it seems possible to state that the fortune of an idea – and more specifically an architectural one – may also depend on the time of its identification as such. In this sense, the awareness and appreciation by contemporaries undoubtedly determines an immediate fortune of invention, but does not necessarily guarantee its elevation to a model: a result achieved only at a later time. This dichotomy is evident in Baroque architecture, in which innovations took shape through the need to overcome specific difficulties, such as those determined by the site and by the client. Consequently, these solutions appear unique and it seems difficult to reproduce them in different contexts except through a preventive intervention of simplification and regularization, as Carlo Fontana (1636-1714) and generally the Academy of San Luca do with Bernini models. A subsequent transposition of models can be found in the spread of such outcomes outside Rome. On the outskirts of the Ecclesiastical State, in fact, these references become part of the cultural background of local professionals in many ways: by direct observation of Roman architecture during study trips, or perhaps by looking at reproductions in treatises like Insignium Romae Templorum Prospectus (1683). The result of this process configures out heterogeneous replicas, characterized by a positive meaning when the copy develops the starting model not only formally but also spatially. This is the case, for example, in the Church of Suffragio of Forlì (1723-48), whose shape is inspired by the Bernini’s church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale and work of the lay brother Giuseppe Antonio Soratini (1682-1762), already the subject of study by the aristocratic architect Giuseppe Merenda (1687-1767).