From Nature to City: Complexity and Coexistence of Signs in Archival Drawings

The relationship between man and nature has forever been mediated by human rationality.Regardless of the place or condition inwhich he has found himself, man has imposed his own criteria to obtain benefits. He has observed, described, measured and configured largely in order to govern. Any representation thus demonstrates an act of strength toward the territory. Silent testimonials can be found in interesting documents created for the broadest range of objectives, often accompanied by drawings conserved in archives. These documents include judicial examinations carried out in extra-urban locations to confirm particular physical and environmental situations of service to law courts. Other examinations were completed to resolve controversies between neighbours or force certain State bodies to adopt opportune measures in relation to particular conditions in a territory. The landscape was thus presented in a twofold depiction, horizontal and vertical, in plan and elevation, and with specific characteristics determined by specific needs. However, this dual form of visualisation gradually gave way to a single vision that eliminated the vertical plane. More precisely, an attempt was made to insert it in plan by means of unique expedients offered by three-dimensional representation.