The Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini

The Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini is one of the highest points of Italian art, one that could not possibly be omitted from Mirabilia Italiae. Although left unfinished after at least three planning stages (or rather, for this very reason), it immediately evokes a complex interplay and balance between intention and invention, between antique and modern. It evokes the lord of Rimini, Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta (barely thirty-three at the time), his beloved Isotta and his familial and dynastic topographies, together with the bloody battles he fought as a mercenary captain, his early successes and his terrible defeats. It evokes a whole series of key names, prominent among them being that of Leon Battista Alberti, here working for the first time as a creative architect. It evokes the artists called to Rimini by Sigismondo: Matteo de’ Pasti, Agostino di Duccio, Piero della Francesca, Maso di Bartolomeo. It evokes an entire landscape of antiquarian learning, from Cyriac of Ancona to Roberto Valturio; from Basinio da Parma to Leonardo Bruni. Contents:
Anno Domini 1450 – Antonio Paolucci Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, Pio II e il Tempio Malatestiano: la chiesa di San Francesco come manifesto politico – Marco Folin L’architettura – Massimo Bulgarelli A Rimini e altrove. Il percorso giovanile di Agostino di Duccio – Marco Campigli La vita postuma degli antichi dèi nel Tempio di Alberti e Sigismondo – Marco Bertozzi Giotto a Rimini – Alessandro Volpe I dipinti del Tempio Malatestiano – Alessandro Volpe Le trasformazioni del Tempio Malatestiano dalla morte di Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta alla Seconda guerra mondiale (1468-1943). Appunti preliminari – Angelo Turchini Restauri al Tempio Malatestiano – Cetty Muscolino Text in English & Italian.