| Abstrakt: |
The essay, using a remarkable land survey belonging to the Historical Archives collections of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, contributes to better understand the organisation and appearance of one of the blocks in the central area of Turin - the nearest one to the royal square, named Sant'Avventore. It was totally transformed by the rectification of the old decumanus of the city - at that time known as Contrada di Dora Grossa. The redrawing of the street, with a linearization of the facades and the creation of a homogeneous look, relied on the technical principle called 'grossazione': several existing units were demolished to build one more modern and profitable house with units for rent, belonging to a single owner. In the process, this erased all traces of the ancient structures. The survey, drawn by one of Juvarra's collaborators, Giovanni Battista Sacchetti, is an interesting document, with plates and official judicial descriptions that illustrate the character of the houses before the transformation. The survey depends on the nature of the building, a Commandery of the Dynastic Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, which also owned a private Chapel in the Church of Saints Processo and Martiniano with a rich marble altar. This church also disappeared during the construction of the diagonal street called via Pietro Micca. The drawing and description of the devotional sacellum and of the house are the only images left of these lost places of old Turin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
