Architectura Picta

International Festival

Refectory of Andrea Pozzo, Trinità dei Monti

Roma

18-19-20-21  September 2025

 

“He is a good painter, a good perspective draftsman, then he must also be a good architect”

Perspectiva Pictorum et Architectorum, 
Andrea Pozzo, 1693

The Festival is the celebration of Architectura Picta [Quadraturism]- the art of illusory architecture and architectural perspectives. 

Its venue is  the awe inspiring Refectory of Andrea Pozzo, in Trinita’ dei Monti, the iconic church on top of Spanish Steps, in the heart of Rome. 
It offers four  intensive days of practical work experience, guided by  professionals of decorative painting and  scholars of drawing and perspective. A  Laboratory will be set up in the Refectory, a large hall completely frescoed by Pozzo in 1693,  where architects and decorative painters will  be able “ to tune in the Fake with the Real" , the actual space with the virtual one. 

The Festival introduces a very innovative  concept by approaching the art of  ‘painted architectures’ in a interdisciplinary way, merging practice with theoretical and scientific knowledge,  the 'illusory'  world of art with architecture and digital media. 

The Festival offers the opportunity to participate in an unprecedented project to rediscover and learn the secrets of the 'most modern of ancient arts’ and explore techniques to re- construe the illusory space in a contemporary way. 

The Festival, scheduled to taje place annually, constitutes an international network of Universities, Cultural Institutions, Ecclesiastical Bodies to promote access to this heritage, fostering further research and training of young scholars from universities, architects and designers , artists and designers.

GOALS

 -Set up a LABORATORY where participants will learn how to create an illusionary space and reinvent its application in a contemporary setting.  During the workshops  a synthesis of the forms of artistic expressiveness - pictorial and architectural representation - will be forged.

-Rediscover the art of great perspective and illusory decorative painting, born in ancient Rome and  developed during the Renaissance and the Baroque era, thanks to the Italian genius.

-Reaffirm - as in the intentions of Andrea Pozzo, one of the greatest exponents of this art – the  essence of architectural perspective as a fusion of pictorial art and architecture that interprets the rules of geometry and perspective to ‘deceive the eye’.

-Demonstrate that ’it takes a human eye to deceive the eye’ and show the intrinsic modernity of Architectura Picta as a virtual art of wonder, fiction, and artifice.

-Explore the reinvention and application in contemporary contexts of the creative power of this ancient art: going beyond physical limits and creating imaginary three-dimensional spaces, through advanced technologies and digital media.