L’Accademia degli Uniti e l’attività teatrale nella bottega del Cavalier d’Arpino

Among the examples of contacts occurred between art and theater in seventeenth-century Rome, this paper examines the little-known case of the Accademia degli Uniti, a literary academy founded in his own palace, together with a public theater, by the painter Giuseppe Cesari d’Arpino in 1608. Halfway between a pictorial workshop and a theater company, this experience was aimed exclusively at producing and staging comedies. It brought together as academic members artists tied to Cavalier d’Arpino and his workshop, placing them to work as actors, playwriters and scenographers. It became in a few years a central scene for the development of Roman Commedia Ridicolosa. By reading Giovanni Briccio’s Indice and some survived comedies written by the only sure member of the group, Matteo Pagani, we can start reconstructing the history of this Accademia, focusing on the complementarity between the theatrical activities and the artistic ones carried out by its members.