Italian Gothic architecture

Italian Gothic architecture (also called temperate Gothic architecture), has characteristics that distinguish it considerably from those of the place of origin of Gothic architecture, France, and from other European countries in which this language has spread (the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain).

Italian architects preferred to keep the traditional construction methods established in the previous centuries, and architectural solutions and technical innovations of French Gothic architecture were seldom used. A soaring height was less important than in Northern Europe. Brick, rather than stone, was in many areas the most common building material, and marble was widely used for decoration. In the 15th century, when the Gothic style dominated both Northern Europe and the Italian Peninsula, Northern Italy became the birthplace of Renaissance architecture.

The Gothic style was first introduced into Italy in the 12th century by monks of the Cistercian and Franciscan Orders. The Cistercian Order was founded in France in 1098 as a breakaway from the Benedictine Order, which the Cistercians considered too lax. The Cistercians were determined on a stricter following of the Rule of Saint Benedict. They built austere churches, first in the Romanesque style and then with Gothic features but with a complete absence of decoration. The Cistercians banned any form of art, sculpture, or stained glass. Bell towers were absent or very simple. Nothing was permitted unless it had an essential practical purpose. Churches were usually far from the centre of cities.

The first Gothic structures in Italy were the Cistercian churches of Fossanova Abbey and Casamari Abbey, which were built on the model of the Cistercian churches in the Duchy of Burgundy, particularly the original Cistercian church, Citeaux Abbey. Casamari was originally built as a Benedictine church but was rebuilt entirely to meet the standards of simplicity and austerity of the Cistercians. The Cistercians built several churches throughout the Italian Peninsula, mostly in the countryside. They went as far as Sicily, where they constructed the unfinished basilica of Murgo near Lentini in the Province of Syracuse, begun in 1225.

The spread of the French style of Gothic introduced by the Cistercians was resisted by the hierarchy of the Catholic Church in Rome, which preferred a return to the earlier style of architecture under Constantine the Great and of the Byzantine Empire. The first Gothic church in Rome, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, a Dominican church, was a copy of Santa Maria Novella in Florence, and was not begun until 1280.

The Franciscans were founded by Saint Francis of Assisi in 1208. Their doctrine called for reaching out to the general population with their message, which meant constructing churches with large naves without any visual obstacles for preaching sermons to large congregations. Unlike Cistercian churches, they welcomed art in their architecture. The upper parts of their first major church, the Basilica of San Francesco of Assisi (1228–1253) were decorated with colourful murals by Cimabue depicting the lives of the Saints. The Basilica was in the form of a simple Latin cross, and had none of the aspirations to great height of the French Gothic style. It was built of brick, covered with plaster on the inside. The stained glass windows were reduced in size, simple and colourless.

The Franciscans constructed another important church, San Francesco, Bologna, in 1236 to 1230 that was closer to the French Gothic model. It was built of red brick, beginning a tradition in Bologna architecture that lasted for two centuries. The facade was similar to those of Romanesque churches, but inside it had a more Gothic form, with aisles, an ambulatory with radiating chapels, and flying buttresses. Other important early buildings included the Parma Baptistery by Benedetto Antelami and the Basilica di Sant'Andrea in Vercelli, which showed Antelami's influence.

Siena Cathedral (1215–1263), which was begun in the mid-13th century, is another major landmark church of early Italian Gothic. Its interior is a mixture of Gothic and Romanesque elements, such as the domed crossing tower, and horizontal banding of the interior columns with polychrome marble. The most striking and original Gothic feature is the decorated screen facade on the west end, with sculptural decoration designed and partly carved by Giovanni Pisano in 1284–1320.