Between architecture and writing: Graphical geometry to decipher systems of signs. Campo verano in Rome

Abstract

There are many examples that represent a profound link between architecture and writing. Both “visual languages”, the two systems have historically interacted, reinforcing each other and activating multiple visual relationships related to the different cultures and linguistic areas. In this very broad context, the paper develops a particular reflection on the relationship between architecture and writing through a particular case study: some of the many small funerary buildings constructed between the second half of the 1800s and the beginning of the 1900s in the Campo Verano cemetery in Rome. This is a readily circumscribed area referring to the relationship between architecture and writing in Western culture and the use of the Latin alphabet, mostly with capital letters, for the necessary specifics that such a study entails. The area is limited, but is functional for investigating the relationship between architecture and writing. Through the means of graphical/geometrical analysis, it has allowed a useful method of investigation to be developed to understand this architectural heritage, which is extremely interesting but particularly complex to decipher.