ABSTRACT
The architectural motif of the loggia was revived in the Early Modern period and became an integral part of the Italian princely courts and villas. The Benediction Loggia at St. Peter's, planned and erected by Pope Pius II Piccolomini, was a hybrid form taking up a range of most distinctive precursors and traditions. The immediate archetype in function and meaning was the loggia of benediction of Pope Boniface VIII built around 1300 in the Lateran Palace in Rome. The interior decoration of the Benediction Loggia illustrated Boniface's attempt to be linked directly to Constantine the Great. Frommel emphasizes the strong presence of the loggia at St. Peter's in comparison with earlier wooden structures. Structural references Hannes Roser has analyzed in detail the transitional architecture between Old and New St. Peter and he discerns some analogies between the design of the loggia and that of Roman triumphal arches.
