From Fanum Fortunae to Palladio: Vitruvius’s Basilica and the genealogy of classical architecture

The recent archaeological identifica- tion of Vitruvius’s basilica at Fanum Fortunae (Fano) offers an opportunity to reinterpret the building as both a material and a theoretical nexus in the continuity of classical architec- ture. Drawing on more than thirty years of research on the Vitruvian text, the history of its graphic in- terpretations, architectural survey, 3D modelling and digital archaeol- ogy, the article traces the shift from a building known for centuries only through De architectura and the re- constructions of treatise writers to a new condition in which text, hypoth- eses and material remains can at last be compared directly. The basilica emerges not only as a discovery of local significance but as a test case for the Western architec- tural tradition: in the passage of Book V describing the building he designed and built, Vitruvius brings theory, symmetria, civic function and built form together in a unique instance. This thread leads to Palladio, whose reception of Vitruvius went beyond the adoption of a classical vocabulary to translate Vitruvian principles into a design language that is measurable, transmissible and historically fertile. The article concludes by consider- ing digital survey, three-dimensional reconstruction and AI as critical tools that can make explicit the relation- ships among sources, models, uncer- tainties and interpretations.