Umanesimo e tutela delle rovine a Roma. Giovanni Dondi e l’avvio tra XIV e XV secolo

From the humanistic studies of the Fourteenth century came up a new vision of man, which will lead to the development of a new vision of art and architecture. The interest in the monuments of Rome of the early humanists taught us to look at antiquity differently. At the instig of Francesco Petrarca, classical studies took on a new character. There was a first conceptualization of history as a discipline and of art as an autonomous activity. Ancient monuments were studied from a new perspective. The distanced gaze was affirmed, which transformed the buildings of the past into an object of meditation. Giovanni Dondi (1330-1388) with the Iter Romanum renewed the literature of the description of the Roman ruins, marking the beginning of a new phase of archaeological investigation, anticipating the great humanists of the Fifteenth century and supporting the subsequent revaluation of the ancient also in its material aspects. The process of maturation of a historical consciousness in the age of Humanism had its first significant manifestation.