Abstract

In the manuscript Architektura cyvilnaja (written in Venice in 1699), “Gasparo Vecchia” is mentioned by the Russian prince G.F. Dolgorukov as the author of a selection of Palladio’s and other famous architects’ texts, which were the sources Dolgorukov drew upon when writing his work. To my knowledge, Gasparo (Della) Vecchia has neither so far been properly identified nor his role studied in detail; in this paper, I try to shed some light on his relationship with Dolgorukov’s text by analysing a manuscript penned by the Italian artist and entitled Breve trattato d’architettura civile, here investigated for the first time. I shall argue that in Venice Della Vecchia continued to be involved with Russians for some time: a letter dated 1715 and addressed to Peter the Great contains his proposal for a garden with didactic ends, thereby demonstrating that Della Vecchia was fully aware of the tsar’s interests and goals.

Highlights

  • In 1697 Peter the Great sent a group of so-called navigatory to study navigation, mathematics, and military architecture in Venice; there can be little doubt that this journey, which included several trips to other regions of the Italian peninsula, represented a cultural breakthrough in mutual awareness for both Russians and Italians

  • Maria Di Salvo (University of Milan) – disalvomaria@libero.it The author declares that there is no conflict of interest otic, instantly-recognizable phenomenon: the Russians in Rome are said to dress in French style (“rivestiti alla franzese”, Šmurlo 1903: 321), whereas in Vita e viaggi (‘Life and travels’) Filippo Balatri recalls that his patron, prince Petr A

  • Because of the current difficulties with carrying out archival work and accessing records, I have not been able to investigate some key aspects about his life and work in detail; it remains to be established, for instance, whether he was nominated in charge of the training of the Russian students formally, as it seems, by the government of the Serenissima, or whether he had informal relationships only with some of them

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Summary

Introduction

In 1697 Peter the Great sent a group of so-called navigatory to study navigation, mathematics, and military architecture in Venice; there can be little doubt that this journey, which included several trips to other regions of the Italian peninsula, represented a cultural breakthrough in mutual awareness for both Russians and Italians. Partly uncovered by the research carried out by Evgenij Šmurlo in Italy, shows that local administrators and diplomats had great interest in helping and collaborating with the Russian nobles, who to their eyes represented a young and still little known nation.

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Conclusion

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