The Heretical symbolism of the Scarzuola

Wunderkammer, allegory and drawing for the search of the self

Abstract

Tomaso Buzzi's heresy, which is all concentrated in the conception and realisation of a dream called Scarzuola, a profane, indecipherable and esoteric city inspired by the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, does not escape, in its visual analysis before that of architecture, from adherence to canonical methods of representation, with the aim, however, of not wanting to reveal the dynamics of thought quickly. In reality, conveyed in hermeneutic form, through a compulsion towards a drawing that finds correspondence in dynamism and frenzy, the author proposes images full of notes, ideas and observations that can distinguish him from few others. The concept of Michelangelo's unfinished remains overbearingly present not only in the graphic conception but also in the realisation of the architecture, repositories of cryptic messages corresponding to a true initiatory path, where the ultimate goal is the search for one's Soul. There are countless references to works without place and without time taken from the most fairytale-like and playful forms in the history of architecture but also the world of art, cinema and literature. The seemingly surreal overlapping of buildings freely contaminated by classical architecture directly connects Buzzi's drawings, as well as the corresponding realised architectures, with images derived from collective memory and creativity, the result of Mannerist cultural reminiscences, abstract Juvarra-esque volumetrics or continuous Baroque contaminations, but also with paradoxically contemporary influences such as Solerian Arcologies or Dezzi Bardeschi's multiform architectures. The preparatory sketches turn out to be a sort of Architectural Divine Comedy that invites one to experience this earth and then progressively leads to another dimensional plane, where it is possible to peer into oneself and evolve accordingly towards other levels of consciousness. In summary, the article proposes a brief retrospective on the controversial figure of Buzzi, starting from the analysis of some sketches up to a general in-depth examination of the realisation of the Scarzuola, investigating the multiple metaphorical meanings of negation of the rules and still interpretable as a bold aesthetic reinterpretation.