Problemi di metodo. L’AACAR e lo studio dei monumenti

Giorgio Rocco - Method matters. AACAR and the study of monuments “Associazione Artistica fra i Cultori di Architettura”, as evidenced by its statute, was primarily involved in the study of ar chitectural monuments as a main task. So, since the early years, the methodological matter was crucial, major focus in the historical-architectural discipline context. The commission to study the basilica of S. Maria in Cosmedin in Rome offered the Society the opportunity to try out the procedures developed during the meetings and debates within AACAR. The choice of constituting a multidisciplinary re search group, integrating the architectural study with archaeological excavation, and focusing the whole investigation process regarding the monument on scientific rigour, highlights the strongly anticipatory character of the intervention, as well as sim ilarities with the modern research methodology. On the other hand, the method matter was recurring, over the years, during the Society’s life and, considering the studies by Giovannoni, appearing central in the context of the methodological question related to the History of Architecture. The scholar’s commitment to the subject will go beyond AACAR, up to the foundation of “Centro di Studi per la Storia dell’Architettura”, rising again from the ashes of that prestigious Society, revealing in its name the will to carry out a virtuous process begun half a century earlier.