On building site in Early Modern Ferrara. Urban transformation of the ducal city in the second half of XVIth century through two archival sources about human behaviour, economical aspects and construction process in architectural production

Two unpublished archival sources from Estense Archive gives us some interesting elements about the building site practice in Ferrara in second half of XVIth century. The first source is a letter written in 1560 by a ducal officer at the head of Munizione e Fabbriche, the office that controlled all the building activities in the city, to the Duke Alfonso II d’Este. It’s a supplicatory letter that Alfonso dal Corno wrote to justify the orders given to craftsmen on building sites. It’s a very important information source, because it explains us a particular building site process and gives us a lot of information about practical building techniques. The second one, is a building regulation written in 1572 about the Ducal Officer behaviour on building site and about practical organization and economical management of building activity in the city. These sources gives us a clear portrait of design practices in relation to city transformation, in particular about specific aspects and roles: - human behaviour: the relationship between patron and architect, between architect and craftsmen; - economical aspects: purchase, provision and management of construction materials and manpower; - construction processes: application, trasformation and innovation of building technique and its relation with practical treatises of the time. These elements can confirm the existence of a strong design culture that has drastically influenced the transformation of the city of Ferrara in XVIth century and beyond.