L’arte e l’architettura nei cimiteri dopo l’Editto di Saint-Cloud. Le istanze internazionali, la cultura sabauda, i cimiteri minori della Sardegna

Ever since ancient times, the magical-propitiatory, apotropaic, and celebratory purpose of art could also apply to its funereal side. Under this aspect, art takes on countless dimensional levels, including the planning of funeral temples and graveyard sites, which introduce artistic elaboration into city planning. Being analyzed here for the first time are minor cemeteries selected for their importance in Italy’s pre- and post-Unification landscape. Cemetery art and architecture prove themselves to be vantage points that allow to understand not only the artist’s most profound intent, but also that of his client. This subject has long been studied by the scientific community, as shown by the rich biblio- and webography which sparked the present work. To better examine the facies that monumental and minor cemeteries showed after Napoleon's St. Cloud Decree, it was necessary to conduct a thorough survey of a number of Italian cemeteries. Since smaller realities have never been closely studied, as works on this subject have always been more concerned with monumental cemeteries, these visitations combined with a constant archival research. The purpose of the present study is to provide a critical vision of the evolution of Savoy culture as connected to minor graveyard sites dating from the Eighteenth to the Twentieth Century. By studying archaeological, artistic, and historical records, rituals and burial practices of the ancient, modern, and contemporary world have been analyzed. The long excursus shows how ancient is the burial practice called ad sanctos or apud ecclesiam, which was harshly stigmatized during the Enlightenment, thus leading to the issuing of the St. Cloud Decree and to the final victory of science in the heated debate between cremationists and “inhumationists”. The phenomenon of death has also been analyzed with respect to its scientific side, focusing on its biological, physical, and chemical aspects; this was followed by an examination of how society perceives and deals with such phenomenon. Following this was a thorough investigation of both urban and extra muros graveyard sites. It’s universally recognized that the model for the birth and development of cemetery architecture can be found in Pisa’s medieval cemetery; and the cemeteries in Rome and Naples, designed by Florentine architect Ferdinando Fuga, are the first pre-Unification cemeteries designed in accordance with scientific progress, far before the St. Cloud Decree. Graveyard sites in Turin, Rome, and many other cities have also been studied. The analysis of the literature on the great cemeteries was followed by an examination of collections of treatises, manuals, and proposals for graveyards from the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century. Following this was an analysis of the Savoy Kingdom of Sardinia, with a focus on its history and a brief study of its sanitation. The cemeteries of Cagliari and Sassari, the island’s most important urban areas, were examined first, with special attention being given to the planning aspects, both on the architectural and the urbanistic level. For the purposes of the present study, the Sardinian cemeteries were then divided into four homogeneous macro-areas. Following this, the objective of the study has taken shape: to understand what models are used in Sardinian cemetery art, what artists are favored, what symbols are used; and if any of these are different from the common practice in the rest of Europe, and how. Lastly, the best practices of preservation, protection, and use of a number of lead cities’ cemeteries have been evaluated, giving special attention both to exemplary instances and to the many problems which inevitably came to light. The present study describes these realities too, to abide by the constructive role of knowledge by identifying problematic situations and proposing solutions