Domus et splendida palatia. Residenze papali e cardinalizie a Roma fra XII e XV secolo

The series "Seminari e Convegni" opens with Domus et splendida palatia. Residenze papali e cardinalizie a Roma fra XII e XV secolo: the volume is devoted to the proceedings of the study day held at the Scuola Normale of Pisa on November 14th, 2002.
The theme is new and original. Researches on city topography, starting from the studies by Richard Krautheimr have been taken up, in the last decades, with settlements of the nobility and some baronial fortresses, especially because of their importance in defining 'political topography' and the course of urban events.
From the sources, however, it emerges that neither the one nor the other represent all the residences of civil and architectural prestige. Indeed in reconstructing the panorama of the city, those of the ecclesiastic hierarchy could not be neglected, even if a clear typological distinction is not possible. Their study had never been taken up organically. Working on what survives and the indirect tradition and laying aside every traditional disciplinary prejudice, the contributions by archaeologists, historians and art historians collected here represent and synthesise the different aspects and problems this phenomenon poses, emphasising in a particular way the importance of the residences of those that formed the College of Cardinals. Going over again the development methods, through the centuries, of the buildings attached to the main cultural settlements, the special statutes that the Lateran palace and the papal apartments at the Vatican Basilica are better brought to light.
Our perception of the city at the end of the Middle Ages is thus better articulated to such an extent that ecclesiastical residences cannot be left out of the elements that describe its appearance.