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Italian Baroque Architecture

Central Italy

Introduction

The Baroque architecture period began in Italy during the late-16th century. It originated during the Counter-Reformation, which was mainly headed by the Catholic Church to appeal to people through new art and a new style of architecture. Baroque architecture is characterized by drama and grandeur. It is very ornate, with intricate decoration and detailing everywhere. Popular materials during the Baroque period were very grand and expensive such as marble, granite, gold, and silk. But a lot of churches only wanted to give the appearance of those materials, so they would paint wood to appear as a marble column, for example. Some of the dramatic design elements of this period also included, large domes, cupolas, and double-hipped roofs. Baroque Architecture continued to be popular until the 18th century.

Rome

The Baroque architecture period began with the creation of the basilica with crossed dome and nave. One of the first Roman structures to move away from the Mannerist conventions, like the Church of the Gesù, was the church of Church of Saint Susanna, designed by Carlo Maderno in 1596. The dynamic use of columns and pilasters,and central decoration make it more complex. Baroque buildings often include domes and show a playful yet disciplined approach to classic design rules.

Pietro da Cortona's work, like Santi Luca e Martina (1635) and Santa Maria della Pace (1656), emphasizes movement, continuity, and dramatic effects. Santa Maria della Pace, with its curved wings, resembling a theater stage, fills a small piazza. Other Roman designs of the time also use theatrical elements to dominate and enhance the surrounding cityscape.

Saint Peter's Square designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini, is a famous example of Baroque architecture., known for its grand scale and awe-inspiring design. Bernini's favorite work was the oval shaped Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (1658), featuring a lofty altar and soaring dome that showcase Baroque style. His vision for Baroque townhouses is exemplified by the Palazzo Barberini (1629) and Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi [it] (1664), both in Rome.

Bernini's main competitor in Rome was Francesco Borromini, whose designs were even more different from the classic styles of the ancient world and the Renaissance. Acclaimed by later generations as a revolutionary in architecture, Borromini rejected the the human-shaped approach of the 16th century, choosing to base his designs on complicated geometric figures (modules). Borromini's architectural space seems to expand and contract when needed, showing some affinity with the late style of Michelangelo. His iconic masterpiece is the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, noted for its wavy oval shape and complex curve pattern. A later work, Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, shows the same dislike for flat surfaces and creative design, highlighted by a corkscrew-shaped dome.

Following the death of Bernini in 1680, Carlo Fontana emerged as the most influential architect working in Rome. His early style is exemplified by the slightly concave façade of San Marcello al Corso. Fontana's academic approach, though less inventive than his Roman predecessors, had a big impact on Baroque architecture through his many writings and the architects he trained, who spread Baroque styles across 18th-century Europe.

The 18th century saw the capital of Europe's architectural world transferred from Rome to Paris. The Italian Rococo, which flourished in Rome from the 1720s onward, was profoundly influenced by Borromini's ideas. The most talented architects active in Rome – Francesco de Sanctis (Spanish Steps, 1723) and Filippo Raguzzini (Piazza Sant'Ignazio [it], 1727) – had little influence outside their native country, as did numerous practitioners of the Sicilian Baroque, including Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, Andrea Palma, and Giuseppe Venanzio Marvuglia.

Southern Italy

Naples

The last phase of Baroque architecture in Italy is exemplified by Luigi Vanvitelli's Caserta Palace, supposedly the largest building erected in Europe in the 18th century. Indebted to contemporary French and Spanish models, the palace is skillfully related to the landscape. In Naples and Caserta, Vanvitelli practiced a classical academic style, with equal attention to aesthetics and engineering, a style that would make an easy transition to Neoclassicism.

Sicily

Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture that took hold on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the 17th and 18th centuries. The style is recognizable not only by its typical Baroque curves and flourishes, but also by its grinning masks and putti and a particular flamboyance that has given Sicily a unique architectural identity.

The Sicilian Baroque style came to fruition during a major surge of rebuilding following a massive earthquake in 1693. Previously, the Baroque style had been used on the island in a naïve and parochial manner, having evolved from hybrid native architecture rather than being derived from the great Baroque architects of Rome. After the earthquake, local architects, many of them trained in Rome, were given plentiful opportunities to recreate the more sophisticated Baroque architecture that had become popular in mainland Italy; the work of these local architects – and the new genre of architectural engravings that they pioneered – inspired more local architects to follow their lead. Around 1730, Sicilian architects had developed a confidence in their use of the Baroque style. Their particular interpretation led to further evolution to a personalized and highly localized art form on the island. From the 1780s and onwards, the style was gradually replaced by the newly-fashionable Neoclassicism.

The highly decorative Sicilian Baroque period lasted barely fifty years, and perfectly reflected the social order of the island at a time when, nominally ruled by Spain, it was in fact governed by a wealthy and often extravagant aristocracy, who controlled the primarily agricultural economy. Its Baroque architecture gives the island an architectural character used well into the 21st century.

North Italy

Turin

In the north of Italy, notably Turin, the monarchs from the House of Savoy were particularly receptive to the new style. They employed a brilliant triad of architects—Guarino Guarini, Filippo Juvarra and Bernardo Vittone—to show the political power and new royal status of their family.

Guarini was a peripatetic monk who combined many traditions (including that of Gothic architecture) to create irregular structures remarkable for their oval columns and unconventional façades. Building upon the findings of contemporary geometry and stereotomy, Guarini elaborated the concept of architectura obliqua, which approximated Borromini's style in both theoretical and structural audacity. Guarini's Palazzo Carignano (1679) may have been the most flamboyant application of the Baroque style to the design of a private house in the 17th century.

Juvarra's architecture, with its smooth shapes, light details, and open views, foreshadowed the Rococo style. Although his practice ranged well beyond Turin, Juvarra's most impressive designs were created for Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia. The visual impact of his Basilica of Superga (1717) derives from its soaring roof line and masterful placement on a hill above Turin. Rustic ambiance encouraged a more free articulation of architectural form at the royal hunting lodge of the Palazzina di Stupinigi (1729). Juvarra finished his short but eventful career in Madrid, where he worked on the royal palaces at La Granja and Aranjuez.

Among the many who were profoundly influenced by the brilliance and diversity of Juvarra and Guarini, the most prominent was Bernardo Vittone. This Piedmontese architect is remembered for an outcrop of extravagant Rococo churches, quatrefoil in plan and delicate in detailing. His sophisticated designs often feature multiple vaults, structures within structures and domes within domes.

Milan

Between 1607 and 1630 Francesco Maria Richini (1584–1658) built the Church of San Giuseppe, which, like Church of the Gesù in Rome, was meant to practice the excess over the Mannerist academic vogue until then. Richini introduced a combined plan, consisting of two central areas derived from Church of Sant'Alessandro in Zebedia, also in Milan; the plastic effect is also noticeable in the façade, decorated by a series of overlapping niches.

Eventually, in 1627 he devoted himself to the façade of the Collegio Elvetico (now the seat of Archivio di Stato), where he aimed at an integration between the interior and exterior through a curved design. This interesting solution, possibly the first curved façade of the Baroque period, predates certain themes later expressed by Borromini, and confirms Richini as one of the greatest architects of the early Baroque.

Venice

The Venetian Baroque, according to local practice, saw Baldassarre Longhena (1598–1682) as its principal exponent. After the pestilence of 1630, he began the construction of the Church of Santa Maria della Salute, using a central plan. In the octagonal body of the basilica, Longhena added a sanctuary bordered on either side by two apses, similar to that adopted by Andrea Palladio in Il Redentore; this solution strengthens the longitudinal axis of the temple, which in fact became the central body in the proper nave. The Baroque style of the church is evident in the conformation of the external mass, located along the Grand Canal: the octagonal body, covered by a large dome, is flanked by the crown of the shrine and two bell towers.

Longhena also worked within civic architecture; its Ca' Pesaro presents a seemingly conventional plan, but the play of light and shadows that are set on the richly ornate façade leads to a typically Baroque style. The exasperation of Loghena's plastic art details peaked in the façade of Santa Maria dei Derelitti (completed in the 1670s), decorated in a fancy and rich way with atlantes, giant heads and lion masks.

Genoa

In Genoa since the end of the 16th century, Baroque architecture saw the construction of a series of large buildings that critics have deemed among the most important of the Italian landscape. Among these was the Palazzo Doria Tursi, where the planimetric configuration of the vestibule, combined with the highest indoor garden through a wide staircase, declares the presence of a movement in depth.

This solution was taken up by Bartolomeo Bianco (1590–1657) in what may be considered his masterpiece: the college of the Jesuits, which later became the headquarters of the University of Genoa (1634, approximately). The building has a U-shaped plan, but compared to previous one shows greater permeability between the inside and the yard; in fact, using the conformation of the very steep terrain, Bianco created a unique urban scenery, with a porch as wide as the yard and a series of overlapping arches and stairways.

References

1. N. Pevsner, J. Fleming, H. Honour, Dizionario di architettura, cit., voce Richini, Francesco Maria.
2. ^ C. Norberg - Schulz, Architettura Barocca, cit., p. 147.
3. ^ C. Norberg - Schulz, Architettura Barocca, cit., p. 183.
4. ^ N. Pevsner, J. Fleming, H. Honour, Dizionario di architettura, cit., voce Longhena, Baldassarre.
5. ^ N. Pevsner, J. Fleming, H. Honour, Dizionario di architettura, cit., voce Italia.
6. ^ C. Norberg - Schulz, Architettura Barocca, cit., p. 146.
7. ^ J. Luebering, "Baroque architecture | Definition, Characteristics, & Facts | Britannica". www.britannica.com. 2024-10-14. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
8. ^ K. McLaughlin, "Baroque Architecture: Everything You Need to Know". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
9. ^ E. Sly, "The Baroque Beauty of Southern Italy". Italy Segreta. 2022-10-12. Retrieved 2024-11-21.
10. ^ "The Baroque style · V&A". Victoria and Albert Museum. Retrieved 2024-11-21.