From the “Sacred Theatres” of Andrea Pozzo to the International Truncated Calotte: History and Representation of the Immacolatella Church’s Tribune in Trapani (1732)

Abstract

The contribution, divided between history and representation, aims to analyse the design genesis and the sources used by the architect Giovanni Amico for the modernization of the Immacolatella church’s tribune in Trapani (since 1732). The church is devoid of studies and surveys with digital instrumentation but its unique compositional characteristics, which exploit the theme of the manipulation of space and light for scenographic and liturgical purposes, require in-depth analysis. The solution applied to the church tribune combines different compositional themes linked to the Roman design world and in particular by Andrea Pozzo in relation to the “sacred theatres” produced for the Jesuits and known through the engravings of his famous treatise. The structure is complicated by a truncated apse basin and an ambulatory behind the altar that follows the irregularities of the available space. The present research has revealed the multiple sources combined by Amico in the project, while the digital modelling operations have made it possible to specify the compositional dependencies and to grasp the complexities of the project. A rich ornamental apparatus that dominates the structure, not exempt from further references to the Roman world, completes the theatrical effect of the composition.