‘Restauramenti e restitutioni di case.’ Book VII on Architecture by Serlio and the Dissemination of the Classical Order in the Language of Monumental Architecture and Basic Building in Ferrara

The years when ‘Liber Septimus’ was in circulation, written by Sebastiano Serlio and posthumously published in 1575 in Vienna, correspond to the postseismic period of reconstruction in Ferrara. Pirro Ligorio directly investigates the damages caused by the earthquake of 1570, describing a city destroyed by collapsing, badly built, old medieval constructions, weakly put together and with no substance. Sebastiano Serlio’s technical solutions and practical rules – illustrated in the Seventh Book with examples where the language of medieval architecture is updated with ‘modern’ solutions – perhaps find in Ferrara one of their first cases of practical application, thanks to the presence of architects like Aleotti, a faithful connoisseur of Serlio’s writings (as well as Vignola’s), and to the treaty’s recognised value as an operational tool. It was a treaty that ‘ha restituito l’Architettura, e fattala facile ad ogniuno,’ as Jacopo Strada would later introduce it to readers in editio princeps. The aim of this contribution is to investigate the relations between Serlio’s theoretical and practical postulations and the reconstruction and restoration that began in Ferrara in the 1570s, both in the field of architectural heritage, and the field of basic building. The latter is a specific object of study for the author, who devotes an important part of Book VII to it. The contribution will develop various topics, in order: The city of Ferrara before the earthquake of 1570: a typical medieval city; Exempla of modern architecture in Ferrara: the sixteenth century palaces of the Herculean Addition; Serlio’s Regola and architectural language in Ferrara: churches and palaces at the end of the sixteenth century; Serlio’s Regola and construction language in Ferrara: basic building at the end of the sixteenth century; Conclusions: the importance of Serlio’s treaty in the reconstruction of Ferrara.