Vernacular architecture and art. The representation of traditional buildings in Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise in the Baptistery of Florence

[EN] In the ten bas-relief panels of the Gates of Paradise of the Florence Baptistery, Lorenzo Ghiberti depicted episodes from the Old Testament, narrated through a succession of scenes, in which the figurative language also fulfils a catechetical function.The master set the Istorie (Stories) of the main characters of the Bible against a background of landscapes depicting territories and architecture known to him, and sculpting in great detail the flora, fauna and human structures. With regard to the latter, in the fifth, sixth and tenth panels, the scenery consists of monumental architecture inspired by the Classical and Renaissance style, while in the second, third, fourth, seventh and eighth panels Ghiberti depicts dwellings and shelters linked to the local tradition. In a single artefact, the goldsmith-sculptor master offers an overview of the heterogeneous built landscape, providing a faithful description of a whole series of vernacular constructions which, due to their importance and diffusion in the area, are also frequently found in other contemporary artistic works. From this point of view, the panels can be considered an unprecedented source to allow the analysis of the salient features of those widespread traditional architectures in the early 15th century, which still characterise the rural landscape surrounding Florence.Merlo, A.; Lavoratti, G. (2022). Vernacular architecture and art. The representation of traditional buildings in Lorenzo Ghiberti's Gates of Paradise in the Baptistery of Florence. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 567-574. https://doi.org/10.4995/HERITAGE2022.2022.1514056757

Chapter In media res. Il ruolo del rilievo urbano nel PCRI tra Caletta di Castiglioncello e Lillatro (Rosignano Marittimo)

The 43rd UID conference, held in Genova, takes up the theme of ‘Dialogues’ as practice and debate on many fundamental topics in our social life, especially in these complex and not yet resolved times. The city of Genova offers the opportunity to ponder on the value of comparison and on the possibilities for the community, naturally focused on the aspects that concern us, as professors, researchers, disseminators of knowledge, or on all the possibile meanings of the discipline of representation and its dialogue with ‘others’, which we have broadly catalogued in three macro areas: History, Semiotics, Science / Technology. Therefore, “dialogue” as a profitable exchange based on a common language, without which it is impossible to comprehend and understand one another; and the graphic sign that connotes the conference is the precise transcription of this concept: the title ‘translated’ into signs, derived from the visual alphabet designed for the visual identity of the UID since 2017. There are many topics which refer to three macro sessions: - Witnessing (signs and history) - Communicating (signs and semiotics) - Experimenting (signs and sciences) Thanks to the different points of view, an exceptional resource of our disciplinary area, we want to try to outline the prevailing theoretical-operational synergies, the collaborative lines of an instrumental nature, the recent updates of the repertoires of images that attest and nourish the relations among representation, history, semiotics, sciences