The monuments of classicism

Castiglione’s lasting passion for archaeology, in the steps of the humanistic fashion of the times, is demonstrated by his visit to the archaeological ruins of Tivoli in 1516, together with a few friends, including Raffaello. Castiglione and Raffaello, a few years later, sent Pope Leone X a letter aimed at underlining the need to place under protection the archaeological riches of the Roman era, to defend them from the depredation and destruction that had damaged them through the ages. This was a document written in 1519, jointly, by the two authors, even if some of the ideas seem to be the fruit of the intuitions of Raffaello, while other parts seemed definitely to have been written by Castiglione.

The letter starts with a solemn consideration of the greatness of classical Rome, so great that modern observers are left in wonder by the remaining ruins, vestiges of an incomparable beauty lost to us today. It is a theme that Castiglione had already touched on in the sonnet Superbi colli e voi, sacre ruine. On the one hand there is a denunciation of the responsibilities of many Popes, who had contributed to the destruction of ancient monuments, and on the other, Leone X is exhorted to promote the conservation of “quel poco che resta di questa antica madre della gloria e della grandezza italiana” (What little remains of this ancient mother of the glory and greatness of Italy) (F.P. Di Teodoro, Raffaello, Baldassare Castiglione e la Lettera a Leone X, Bologna 1994, 146-147).

Of ancient Rome, once the queen of the world, only miserable fragments are left: and yet every effort must be made to promote their identification and care. Along these lines, a little before the letter was sent, Leone X had in fact entrusted Raffaello the job of drawing up a map of classical Rome. Those relics must, in fact, become the model to be emulated by modern works.