The Exchange of Architectural Models between Rome and Turin before Guarini’s Arrival

The architectural advisors of Maria Cristina of Bourbon, Regent of Savoy from 1637 to 1648, were Count Filippo San Martino d’Aglié, appointed “Gran Maestro delle Fabbriche” in 1643, and her former brother in law, Prince Maurizio of Savoy. The two men had been close since their sejour in Rome when Maurizio was still a cardinal and Filippo his gentleman of the chamber; they both had grown up in the cultural and artistic milieu of the city and shared the same interests developed inside the Accademia dei Desiosi. For them it was quite logical also to consider ideas and suggestions of the architects whom they had known during their stay in Rome for the challenging architectural programmes being planned in Turin. In addition, between the death of Carlo di Castellamonte in 1630 and the professional maturation of his son Amedeo, the ducal engineers were attracted by the monumental persuasiveness of the works of their Roman counterparts. This focus on Rome was enhanced by the arrival in Turin of the Theatines and the Minims with their first settlements during the 1620s, and by the promotion of the ‘dynastic cult’ with the resumption of works in the chapel of the Holy Shroud in the 1650s. However, the novelty of the contemporary urban and architectural planning of Turin as a capital city was not ignored by Roman architects as can be seen in some unrealized projects for the renewal of Rome. That Turin could thus command the attention of contemporaries tends to reinforce the theses of Andreina Griseri and of 1960s scholarship on Turin as a model city. The 1640s and 1650s in Turin coincide with a phase of transition and experimentation before the arrival in 1666 of Guarino Guarini, who marked a turning point in Baroque architecture in Piedmont.