Le misure dello spazio monastico

This paper aims to investigate a moment in the history of monastic architecture in which the concept of “cloister” underwent a profound revision. In particular, in the second half of the 15th century, within the reformed Benedictine Congregation of Santa Giustina (later Cassinese), the monastic cell began to be systematically adopted in the reconstruction of monasteries. The cell, replacing the medieval communal dormitory, became the privileged place for individual prayer and meditation. The cell also reoriented the relationship (visual and spiritual) between the interior and exterior of the monastery: the “micro-landscape” of the medieval hortus conclusus, limited to the walls of the cloister, was joined by a form of aestheticized territory outside the monastery, inspired by a humanistic conception of landscape. Consequently, the architecture (and in particular the physical and spiritual dimensions of the monastery) was reorganized on the basis of this dual principle: the multiplication of individual spaces for prayer and the orientation of the main architectural axes in relation to the elements of the landscape. In particular, my focus is on this renewed relationship between the cell and the landscape, between “clausura” and openness