Guarino Guarini’s Architectural Theory and Counter-Reformation Aristotelianism: Visuality and Aesthetics in Architettura civile and Placita philosophica

Abstract

GUARINO GUARINI (1624–83) is today mainly remembered for his architectural works, such as the chapel of Santissima Sindone, the church of San Lorenzo, Palazzo Carignano in Turin, or the church Santa Maria in Araceli in Vicenza. His encyclopedic interests and massive treatises on philosophy, mathematics, and astronomy—quite extraordinary for a Baroque architect—have received much less scholarly attention. At the same time, these nonarchitectural interests are not easy to separate from his architectural pursuits, especially his views on architectural theory. The theoretical positions that he endorses in his architectural treatise Architettura civile often result from his wider philosophical views, elaborated in his philosophical treatise, Placita philosophica. This is particularly the case