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A. For me, having grown up in the Japanese architectural culture of wooden construction, the masonry culture of the West seemed fundamentally different. In Italy, there are layers of history from eras thousands of years before Christ, so it's impossible to absorb everything in just one or two tours. At best, we'll find something new to stimulate our thinking. Therefore, it's probably best to make one's travel plans with a focused theme of some kind. In my case, I planned my first trip to Italy as an exploration of the works of the great architect of the Renaissance, Michelangelo, in chronological order. Starting with the Pietà in St. Peter's in the Vatican, I went to Florence to see the Medici Chapel and to climb the stairs of the Biblioteca Laurenziana, before going back to Rome. This time in Rome, after visiting the Piazza on the Campidoglio hill and standing before The Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, I finally returned to St. Peter's. In travelling back and forth between Rome and Florence in this way, I attempted to trace the flow of time from the Renaissance to Mannerism and the Baroque, through the experience of one creator, Michelangelo. It was probably a trip I could have undertaken only at that time, when it seemed that I had nothing but time... Q. What other ways to see Italy might there be? A. In the Baroque period, after Michelangelo, there were two particularly interesting architects --- Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini and Francesco Borromini. At that time, they were said to be constant rivals. As a structure for an architectural tour, it might be interesting to look at these two architects' works, within which their respective personalities are revealed. The paths they traveled contrasted greatly in many respects --- their origins, their personalities, and even their deaths. Bernini was born into the elite, the child of a family of court sculptors. Socially and economically, he lived a very comfortable life as an architect, steadily building a career under the patronage of successive popes. On the other hand, Borromini, born the son of a mason, developed his talent on his own and was, so to speak, a self-made architect. After working for a time for Bernini, in his mid-thirties Borromini eventually began working on his own. However, it has been said that Borromini, with his passionate temper, was constantly tormented with jealousy and often ended up in conflict with those around him. Above all, Borromini is said to have become remarkably hostile towards Bernini, who apparently looked down on him. This difference in personality between Bernini and Borromini is clearly revealed in their architecture. It is especially evident in their use of oval motifs, which had become a new feature in Baroque architecture after the circles of the Renaissance. In Bernini's plans, the ovals are laid across the axis to create a sweet, intoxicating space suited to his flamboyant lifestyle. On the contrary, Borromini boldly used ovals longitudinally, expressing through space his extreme emotions and extraordinary obsession with power. There is an area in central Rome where buildings by these two architects stand about a hundred meters apart --- Bernini's Sant' Andrea al Quirinale chapel on the Via Quirinale and a small chapel, San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, by Borromini. By visiting them in turn, the differences in the lifestyles of these two contemporaries --- both geniuses who took their architecture to extremes --- can be clearly recognized. Q. If you were to choose, whose architecture would appeal to you more? A. Personally, I tend to have greater sympathy for the somewhat troubled Borromini than for the elegant Bernini. I feel an affinity for Borromini's stormy life, which infuses his architecture. He engaged passionately with architecture without concern for how he appeared to others. On this trip, I visited San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, which I hadn't seen for a long while. Fortunately, a restoration of the interior had just been completed, and I felt an even greater vitality in it than before. This building is not of such a large size. Nevertheless, it is surprising that from the Baroque era until now it has never lost its appeal to architects from all over the world. The sublime power of an architectural space and its potential to move people is never determined by its size. |
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