Sulle "chiese doppie" dei monasteri femminili tra Milano e Roma. Esigenze funzionali e ricerche spaziali

With the Decrees of Trent, the Church imposed enclosure within female convents, but Carlo Borromeo indirectly turned the Tridentine rules into an architectural shape, codifying in his Instructiones Fabricae the main features of the so-called "double church". Double churches already existed at the time of Borromeo: it was a traditional Lombard typology, that traced its origins back to the Middle Ages and would spread all over the Catholic world during the Counter Reformation. The most important example of this typology is the Milanese church of S. Maurizio al Monastero Maggiore, built in the early 16th. century. This building has two contiguous quadrangular rooms - one for the faithful (external church), the other for the nuns - aligned on the longitudinal axis. A wall separates the rooms and both main altars leanes against each side of it. Small windows screened by grilles allowed nuns to follow the Mass, celebratede in the external church. This research examinates the diffusion in Rome of this typological shape, through the analysis of some interesting case studies, considering both new and restored buildings. As this paper suggest, during the 17th Century some architects started to update the austere codified by Borromeo on Baroque standards: the external church had to show the autority of the convent and the wealth of nun's aristocratic families. Examining double churches reveals how close was the connection between Milan and Rome, made possible by patrons, architects, masters masons and artist who travelled between the two cities.