The lost theatre: scenography and functions of the original entrance to Villa Farnesina

The traumatic, but not destructive effects of an earthquake are similar to the consequences of the repeated transformation and/or manipulation of a building over thousands of years. Appreciating the importance of this proposed similarity, a clinical-scientific research on potential stem cells can be considered comparable to a critical survey of a building in order to trace all the construction phases since its initial foundation. This is the approach we adopted to study Baldassare’s “invention” for Agostino Chigi: Villa Farnesina in Rome. Today the building is completely transfigured due to neglect and the changes made to it over the years. Our recently completed study also allowed us to establish its harmonically designed layout. In this article we focus on Peruzzi’s design of the original building and his idea to place an outdoor area, deliberately designed as a stage, in front of its main entrance.