In architecture, the scarsella is a small

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

with a rectangular or square plan which protrudes outside the main structure. The term ''scarsella'', in ancient Florentine, means "purse", in particular the leather purse for money.

Overview

A scarsella can be seen in the

Baptistery of Florence The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni), is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del D ...

which, initially built octagonal, was then equipped with a smaller rectangular construction attached to the original building. Another medieval scarsella is that of the Cappellone degli Spagnoli in Santa Maria Novella, also in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

, which served as a model for

Filippo Brunelleschi Filippo Brunelleschi ( , , also known as Pippo; 1377 – 15 April 1446), considered to be a founding father of Renaissance architecture, was an Italian architect, designer, and sculptor, and is now recognized to be the first modern engineer, p ...

to design the plans of the

Sagrestia Vecchia The Sagrestia Vecchia di San Lorenzo, or Old Sacristy of San Lorenzo, is the older of two sacristies of the Basilica of San Lorenzo in Florence, Italy. It is one of the most important monuments of the early Italian Renaissance architecture. Design ...

of San Lorenzo and of the

Pazzi Chapel The Pazzi Chapel ( it, Cappella dei Pazzi) is a chapel located in the "first cloister" on the southern flank of the Basilica di Santa Croce in Florence, Italy. Commonly credited to Filippo Brunelleschi, it is considered to be one of the masterp ...

. Brunelleschi studied a model of the chapel in which the base was square and the scarsella opened in the center of one of the walls, with the side dimension equal to one third of the chapel and with an area equal, therefore, to a one ninth of the entire chapel area. This scheme proved to be successful and was actively used by the great architects of the Renaissance, especially for centrally-planned buildings. An early example of a monumental scale is the Basilica of Santa Maria delle Carceri in Prato designed by

Giuliano da Sangallo Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445 – 1516) was an Italian sculptor, architect and military engineer active during the Italian Renaissance. He is known primarily for being the favored architect of Lorenzo de' Medici, his patron. In this role, Giulia ...

in which the presbyteral area composes a sort of a large bag. Another example of a scarsella is the apse of the church of Santa Maria dei Miracoli in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Gallery

Cappellapazzi-Scarcella.jpg, Scarsella of

Battisterogrundriss.svg, Plan of

Florence Baptistery The Florence Baptistery, also known as the Baptistery of Saint John ( it, Battistero di San Giovanni), is a religious building in Florence, Italy, and has the status of a minor basilica. The octagonal baptistery stands in both the Piazza del ...

with a scarsella on the west side

References

{{Reflist Arches and vaults Church architecture Architectural elements Italian words and phrases

Overview

Gallery

See also

References