SOFFITTO
Architectural element designed to conceal the roof structures above or, more simply, the ceiling of a room. What concerns us here is, naturally, the aesthetic function of this element, which, in the various historical periods, has undergone varied forms of decoration—whether the ceiling beams were used to create the so-called coffered or lacunar ceiling, or whether the decoration of the flat surface of the ceiling was covered by paintings.
A special type of decoration, therefore, which nonetheless falls within the history of wood carving and stucco, particularly regarding the first type, and within that of painting proper regarding the second type. For this reason, a distinction is usually made between the ceiling and the decorated vault. Works to which great importance was always attributed; and it is well known, because of the rich ceiling that adorned it, the appellation of “in ciel d’oro” [“in a sky of gold”] that remained with the church of S. Pietro in Pavia (11th century), or that of “aurea” [“golden”] given for the same reason to the church of S. Giovanni in Laterano in Rome.
Among the oldest surviving works, the ceiling of the Palatine Chapel in Palermo (c. 1149) is remembered, in which “among the Muslim ornaments stand figures of profane beatitude, raising cups, seated in the Oriental manner” (Toesca). Painted ceiling panels of Byzantine style also remain in the Chapter House of S. Niccolò in Treviso. This type never ceased to enjoy great success, especially in Sicily, and one may recall, for later periods, that of the Palazzo Chiaramonte in Palermo by Siena, as well as those of Corleone and Cecco di Naro (1377–80), of fantastical decorative richness, with profane subjects alternating with sacred ones. This is, moreover, one of the few remaining examples of a decorated ceiling in a medieval private house, while examples for religious buildings are not lacking, such as the coffered ceiling (dated 1334) of the church of S. Giovanni Evangelista in Ravenna. The ceilings of the Gothic period, on the other hand, seem to have been of lesser artistic importance, given the artistic spirit that generated them, during which recourse was more frequently made to vaulted ceilings.
A notable revival occurred during the Renaissance, the classical period of large carved and gilded ceilings, as well as painted ones, in which artists such as the Lendinara, Giuliano da Sangallo (who, together with Domenico del Tasso, left the very rich ceiling of the Sala dei Dugento in the Palazzo della Signoria in Florence), his brother Benedetto, Matteo Cividali, Antonio da Sangallo (ceiling of Palazzo Farnese in Rome), Giulio Romano (Palazzo del Tè in Mantua), and Primaticcio (Troia apartment in the Ducal Palace in Mantua) made their mark. Alongside these, a whole legion of minor artists worked, of whom, unfortunately, only a few names remain (Giacomo Fiorentino in Urbino; Antonio Viani in Mantua; Michelangelo Leggi in Cortona; Giovanni Sega in Carpi and others). The art of the 17th century left notable examples of wooden ceilings, especially in Genoa, where the work of the Lucchese Gaspare Forzani is remembered; in Florence, where the ceiling of the church of S. Anna nunziata (1664) is recalled; in the Royal Palace of Turin, where Pietro and Bartolomeo Botto worked (in 1656 and 1660 respectively), Quirico Castelli (1662–63), Pier Luca Bertolina (1658–59), Emanuele and Francesco Dugar, etc.
The type of flat painted ceiling is more difficult to sharply separate from decorated vaults, and for these one must go back to earlier times. Nevertheless, the rich ceilings of this type executed during the Renaissance are too famous to require particular mention, and for which one would have to repeat the names of famous artists, from Mantegna to Pinturicchio, to Raphael, to Giulio Romano, and then proceed to the names of the major artists of the 17th and 18th centuries. It is, however, worth noting that in the Baroque period, alongside the bold perspectival visions achieved by painters, there was a particular and natural revival of stucco decoration, as well as in wood (and it will suffice to mention the name of Serpotta), until “the tradition of solemn and powerful decorative inventions having now been lost, that virtuosity magnificently exercised itself in the infinite resources of a soft and artificial grace” (A. Colasanti) — See pl. LVIII.