In contemporary sources, Sardi is described more often as acting in the capacity of a
capomastro or master builder rather than as an architect. He designed and executed only one church from scratch, that of Santa Maria del Rosario in 1712 in the
Colonna family fiefdom of
Marino, in the
Alban Hills outside Rome. The interior is centrally planned and has an unusual and elaborately decorated dome. This is also his first known work. His work as
capomastro is documented on the building sites of
Santa Maria in Trastevere (where he worked under the direction of Recalcati in 1714),
Santa Maria in Monticelli (where he worked under the direction of Sassi in 1715, about six years before his conjectured work on
San Paolo alla Regola, located around the corner) and at
Santissima Trinità dei Pellegrini (under the direction of
Francesco de Sanctis in 1722 - 23). Sardi is also credited with one other minor work, the refurbishment of the baptistery of
San Lorenzo in Lucina, executed between 1713 and 1721. Although Sardi's name has been connected with several churches in and around Rome, one of the mostly securely attested of his commissions is the addition of a new façade to the church of
Santa Maria in Cosmedin in the Foro Boario in Rome. This façade was erected in place of the previous
Romanesque façade in 1718, and destroyed in 1896 – 1899 but its appearance is recorded in
Giuseppe Vasi's
Magnificenze di Roma (Plate 56) as well as in photographs . Also confirmed is Sardi's authorship of the façade of the
Trastavere church of
Santi Quaranta Martiri (also known as San Pasquale Baylon) (1736–39). This façade appears to have been modelled on that by
Francesco Fontana for the church of
Santa Maria ad Nives, Rome (Santa Maria delle Neve), located near the
Colosseum, and erected around 1708. More contentious are Sardi's contributions to two other churches that had new (or renovated) façades finished in the period between 1720 and 1740. The first of these projects was the construction of a new façade for
San Paolo alla Regola, a church which had been erected around 1687 to a design of Father Giovanni Battista Bergonzoni (called Borgognone), a teacher of theology at the college attached to the church. Vasi claims that the façade was the design of
Giovanni Battista Conti, while Titi attributes it to 'Ciacomo Ciolli’ (Giacomo Cioli) and Sardi jointly. In sum, there is no scholarly consensus on how exactly the work should be divided. A similar problem concerns the attribution to Sardi of the facade of
Santa Maria Maddalena which is significant as one of a limited number of facades in Rome displaying the
Rococo style, The facade was begun in the late seventeenth century and was still unfinished in 1734. Rossini's
Mercurio errante (1741) and the 1745 edition of Roisecco's guide book do not mention the designer, although they do draw attention to the façade. The first mention of Sardi's involvement is in the 1750 edition of Roisecco's guide book. Scholars have long been undecided who should be credited with this design which has also been attributed to
Emanuele Rodriguez Dos Santos. Too little of Sardi's work survives to permit attribution on stylistic grounds. == References ==