Proceedings of the First International Congress on Construction History, Madrid, 20th-24th January 2003, ed. S. Huerta, Madrid: I. Juan de Herrera, SEdHC, ETSAM, A. E. Benvenuto, COAM, F. Dragados, 2003. The construction techniques and methods for organizing labor used for Bernini's colonnade in St.Peter's, Rome Maria Grazia D' Amelio The diary of Pope Alexander VII Chigi (1657-1668) technicaJ knowledge in an osmotic fashion. SLPeter' s is full of references to the ongoing construction work BasiJica and the whoJe area around it were one on St.Peter's Colonnade (1657-1668), and he enormous building site, equipped with avant-garde frequent]y complained that the work was «moving very slowly» and urged the people in charge to work more quickly.' He clearly wanted to see the colonnade finished within the 60 months scheduled for its completion by the Congregazione della Fabbrica di San Pietro, for which Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680) was paid 60 scudi a month throughout the whole period of construction,2 Figure l. The five years allotted for building this impressive structure (which at the time was compared to ancient Roman buiJdings) was not over optimistic, particu]arly if one considers that the work was originally supposed to be done by the Reverenda Fabbrica di San Pietro. The Fabbrica had been in charge of construction and maintenance in St.Peter' s since the early 16th century.] It was a very efficient organization, with such a highly skilled technical staff that it was able to finish bui]ding SLPeter's cupola in just 22 months, quite a technological feat for the late 16th century. Like many other organizations set up throughout Italy to promote religious architecture, during the 17th century the Fabbrica had an increasingly strong influence on Roman construction in general, in terms of artistic choices, management policies, and spreading architectural knowledge. This was also because the Fabbrica's architects, master bui]ders and highly speciaJized workmen were quite Figure 1 mobile, meaning that they worked on other Giovan Battista Nolli. Vatican afea. Pianta di Ruma (Roma construction sites around Rome, spreading their 1748),23, New York 199J: J. H. Aronson Publisher 694 M. G. D' Amelio organization and technology, specialized in designing had become dramatically stagnant after pestilence construction machinery and in the synchranized broke out in June 1656. He therefore tenaciously organization of labor. opposed criticism to the project, which some The Vatican area also had plenty of resources. considered unsuitably «grand and ornate» and There were foundries for making building equipment, repeatedly urged the people in charge of the work to stocks of limestone; warehouses full of building procure everything that was needed for the building materials and equipment, and ample space for site: Figure 2. working. The Vatican even had exclusive ownership To speed things up, the Pope also dealt personally of a river, the Aniene, including its riverbanks and the with administrative issues connected with the project old Traspontina port, for shipping travertine to Rome (giving audience to the magister stradorum fram the quarries in Tivoli. Domenico Jacovacci, for example) and with its In spite of this supportive framework and the planning, organizational and economical aspects, careful scheduling of work phases set up right after conferring repeatedly with Bernini, with Mons.Luca Bernini was given the job (July 31, 1656), it took Holstenio, Don Flavio Chigi and Father Virgilio twice as many years to complete this «great . Spada.5 Theatre» than had been planned. His impatience was triggered by the knowledge It was a mistaken judgement, one of the few dark that construction work began substantially after the moments of the enterprise, and was the result of some decision to build the colonnade, a time lag clearly unwise decisions made when work began. recorded in the memorandum drawn up (probably in Alexander VII was counting on this building August, 1656) by the Fabbrica foreman, Pietro Paolo project to give new life to Rome's economy, which Drei.6 According to Drei, it took fully three months to Figure 2 Yiew of SI. Peter's. (Roma, Gabinetto Comunale delle Stampe, Palazzo Braschi. Edited by J. Connors and L. Rice, 1991. Specchio di Roma Barocca. Una Guida inedita del XVII secolo, 28, Roma: Edizioni dell'Elefante) The construction techniques and methods used for Bernini's colon nade 695 lay in stores of tools and construction equipment. He Thc project had to be «weIl built, otherwise his design cIearIy favored the initial decision to start working in would not be successfuj,>.lo On that oecasion Louis an area where no demolitíon would be necessary, the XTV's minister, lean Baptiste Colbert, remarked that northem sectíon of the co]onnade, towards Porta this method produced an uncertain output, so that Ange]ica. He also suggested that, when calculating construction cou]d not foIlow a scheduIe <dike it the work timing, it wou]d be wise to bear in mind how could with contraet worb> , when workmen are not long it would take to cIear out the houses which paid on a time basis but according to production. would have to be tom down to make space for the But, retuming to the coIonnade, Drei's concluding southem sectíon of the colonnade. These houses were remark was that aIl these various aspects of the aJl in the SteJl etta and Arci pretato areas and building site would have to be decided quickJy, expropriatíng them had cost just over 50.000 scudi, a because «we must make the most of favorable very large sumo (By comparison, the Fountain of the seasons, and particularly of next autumn, because Four Rivers in Piazza Navona cost «onJy» 30.000 once it is over, the beginning of the year will be scudi). The Fabbrica managed to recover some of the difficult and we wiIl have lost an opportunity for money by seJling materials left over from the employing many poor people». demo]ished buildings, either as partíal payment to the Ttwas a prophetic remark, since work began on]y a master masons or e1se to third parties. This is what year later. This long and compJex project had just happened with the tufa stone taken from Raphael' s begun, an enterprise, which was to transform the famous palace (which was knocked down in April, square (considered «outside of every rule in 1671) and the wood from Ferrabosco's tower architecture», into the Church's tangible embrace of (demo]ished in 1660).7 the faithful,11 Figure 3. Pietro Pao]o Drei (an architect who had lthough the project itself had stiIl not been considerab]e experience in supervising bui]ding completely defined at that point (the fina] details were projects, since he had worked on the Fountain of the decided late in 1657), on May 28, 1657 the architect Four Rivers and San!' Agnese in Agone) assumed that Marcantonio De Rossi notified the Fabbrica treasurer the construction site would be completeJy controIled by the Fabbrica, using excIusiveJy Fabbrica workmen. He therefore suggested that buying the freestone from the merchants, and compeIling them by contract to provide a specific quantity of material each year, would give the best results. The quality of the travertine would al so be specified in the contract. The blocks of stone would be transported from the quarries in a rough]y cut state and then be worked on the construction site by crews of Fabbrica stone masons who, since work for them was scarce at that moment, were «idle» and «100king around for something to do». The finished pieces would then be lifted and put in place by the Fabbrica workmen, known as «sampietrini».g Alexander VII shared this view of how the work should be structured. He was initiaIly against the contracting system, because he believed that «work done cheapJy is always less well done».9 Bernini was also convinced that workmen paid on a daily basis Figure 3 produced better quality work and actually defended Carlo Fontana, 1694. Section ofthe Colonnato di San Pietro. this theory in 1665, when discussing work In Tel11plul11vaticanul11 et ipsius origo, 105, Roma: ex management for his never realized Louvre project. typographia Jo. Franeisci Buagni 696 M. G. D' Amelia that «the first boatload of travertine» had arrived».12 The large ilex rulers used to measure the plan were paid for on July 13;" while on July 23 Cardinal Barberini was asked to buy the equipment and materials needed to «start work on the portico» and Bernini was asked to increase the number of workmen (known as scoccioni) employed in the travertine quarries.14 By that date the system for organizing labor on the building site had already been outlined in the «Nota delle provvisioni che si devono fare per li PortiÓ», '5 which reutilizes a method already used successfully on the Fountain of the Four Rivers a few years previously.'ó This fountain was built in the years right before the 1650 Jubilee, a period when construction Figure 4 was going on throughout Rome at a hectic rateo The View of Sto Peter's. (Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August- ] churches of SUohn Lateran, Santi Luca e Martina, Bibliothek, codo Guelf. 36, Extrav., fa 27. Edited by H. Sant'lvo alla Sapienza and the Cornaro Chapel in Hibbard, 1971. Car/o Muderno und ROInan Architecture Santa Maria della Vittoria were all being worked on 1580-1630,53 b, London: A. Zwemmer LId) in that period, along with Palazzo Pamphilj, the Basilica of St.Peter's and other, more ordinary buildings. process, before they were fired. Therefore, they could The Nota provides guidelines for making sure that only start production in the spring of 1657, which provisions of construction material s would be further delayed the start of work on the colonnade.