Dario Donetti

Dario Donetti (1981, Italy) is an architectural historian and associate professor at the University of Verona. After specializing at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, he continued his research at the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florenz, the Italian Academy at Columbia University and the University of Chicago, where he is still a visiting professor. His research focuses on Italian architecture of the Renaissance and the 20th century, with an emphasis on the relationship between graphic experimentation and production processes.

His project focuses on a remarkable example of architectural representation in 16th-century Rome: the Morgan Library’s Codex Mellon. This sketchbook sheds light on creative processes based on exchange, contamination of ideas and hybridization, often neglected by historiography. Its analysis will reveal how Renaissance architects appropriated and transformed architectural prototypes, offering insights into their reinterpretation through emulation. This approach to authorship highlights the interconnectedness and collaborative spirit that characterized Italian architectural culture in the early modern period.