Giovanni Antonio Antolini (Castel Bolognese, 1756 – Bologna 1841) was an Italian architect and writer.

Biography

From 1803 to 1815, he was professor of architecture at the

University of Bologna The University of Bologna ( it, Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna, UNIBO) is a public research university in Bologna, Italy. Founded in 1088 by an organised guild of students (''studiorum''), it is the oldest university in contin ...

and thereafter at Milan's

Brera Academy The Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera ("academy of fine arts of Brera"), also known as the or Brera Academy, is a state-run tertiary public academy of fine arts in Milan, Italy. It shares its history, and its main building, with the Pinacoteca di ...

. He designed grandiose Neoclassical projects such as the Foro Bonaparte in Milan, which was never executed, and plans for the Procuratie buildings on St Mark's Square in Venice, which were modified and completed by others. He was also active in the field of

hydraulics Hydraulics (from Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is the liquid counte ...

. His written works include ''Idee elementari di architettura civile'' (Elementary concepts of civil architecture, 1813) and ''Osservazioni ed aggiunte ai Principii di architettura civile di Francesco Milizia'' (Observations and additions concerning the Principles of civil architecture by

Francesco Milizia Francesco, the Italian (and original) version of the personal name "Francis", is the most common given name among males in Italy. Notable persons with that name include: People with the given name Francesco * Francesco I (disambiguation), se ...

, 1817).Mario Pepe, "Antolini, Giovanni Antonio" in ''Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani III'', Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 1961.

Early life

When still quite young, he was taught geometry and hydraulics by the engineer Vincenzo Baruzzi. At the age of 20, he went to Rome. In 1776, he assisted with the drainage of the

Pontine Marshes 250px, Lake Fogliano, a coastal lagoon in the Pontine Plain The Pontine Marshes (, also ; it, Agro Pontino , formerly also ''Paludi Pontine''; la, Pomptinus Ager by Titus Livius, ''Pomptina Palus'' (singular) and ''Pomptinae Paludes'' (plu ...

but, after catching malaria, soon returned to Rome. As a result, he decided to devote the rest of his career to architecture.

Architecture

Like many 18th-century Italian architects, Antolini was attracted by the study of ancient monuments, publishing an illustration of the Temple of Hercules in

Cori Cori or CORI may refer to: * Cori cycle, the metabolic pathway where lactic acid produced in the muscles is converted into glucose in the liver * Cori (lunar crater) * Cori, a crater on Venus * Cori (name) * ''Cori, de Scheepsjongen'' (''Cori, th ...

. In 1796, he designed a triumphal arch with

Doric Doric may refer to: * Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece ** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians * Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture * Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode * Doric dialect (Scotland) * Doric ...

columns for the city of

Faenza Faenza (, , ; rgn, Fènza or ; la, Faventia) is an Italian city and comune of 59,063 inhabitants in the province of Ravenna, Emilia-Romagna, situated southeast of Bologna. Faenza is home to a historical manufacture of majolica-ware glazed ea ...

dedicated to the glory of the French nation. Inaugurated in 1799, it was decorated with bas-reliefs by the sculptor Villafranca but was quickly destroyed by the Austrians. After the French returned, it was rebuilt to celebrate the

Battle of Marengo The Battle of Marengo was fought on 14 June 1800 between French forces under the First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte and Austrian forces near the city of Alessandria, in Piedmont, Italy. Near the end of the day, the French overcame General Mich ...

but was then again demolished.

Foro Bonaparte

Giovanni Antonio Antolini, Foro Buonaparte (fronte città)

Giovanni Antonio Antolini, Foro Buonaparte (fronte campagna)

In 1801, after the French had returned to Milan, Antolini was commissioned to draw up plans for redesigning the city in the around the

Sforza Castle The Castello Sforzesco (Italian for "Sforza's Castle") is a medieval fortification located in Milan, northern Italy. It was built in the 15th century by Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, on the remnants of a 14th-century fortification. Later reno ...

which

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

had begun to demolish. Antolini, however, in his ''Foro Bonaparte'' (Bonaparte Forum) project which was inspired by the Forum of Ancient Rome and by the works of the French architect

Claude Nicolas Ledoux Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (21 March 1736 – 18 November 1806) was one of the earliest exponents of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not only domestic architecture but also town planning; as ...

, proposed keeping the core of the castle, adding a facing of Doric columns, and developing a vast circular plaza around, some 570 metres in diameter. Surrounded by a Doric colonnade, the plaza was to be bordered by administrative buildings, ministries, court houses, baths, theatres, universities and museums.Marco Dezzi Bardeschi, ''Milano: architettura, città, paesaggi'', 2006, Milan, Mancosu Editore, p. 60–62 There were also plans for large areas to be devoted to commerce, the stores being connected through a system of canals to the city's

Navigli The navigli (; lmo, Navili ) are a system of interconnected canals in and around Milan, in the Italian region of Lombardy, dating back as far as the Middle Ages. The system consists of five canals: Naviglio Grande, Naviglio Pavese, Naviglio M ...

. The main objective of the ambitious project was to move the city centre from the Piazza del Duomo, then surrounded by narrow medieval streets, to the newly planned Foro which would thus become the hub of city life.Arte Americana, volume 16, Enciclopedia ''La Storia dell'Arte'', Electa/Mondadori e Gruppo editoriale L’Espresso, 2006, p. 748 Evaluated and modified several times by a special commission, the plans finally shelved owing to the sheer grandeur of the project. Although Napoleon was strongly behind it, it was finally deemed too ambitious for a city the size of Milan. The Foro Bonaparte plans were however not completely abandoned: once Antolini's design had been set aside, the project was entrusted to

Luigi Canonica (Cristoforo Maria) Luigi Canonica ( Tesserete, Canton Ticino, 9 March 1762 – Milan, 7 February 1844) was a Swiss architect and urban planner whose prominent career as an exponent of neoclassicism was spent largely in Milan and Lombardy. He was t ...

who completely reworked it into developing the area essentially for private residences. Antolini's original plans were however considered to be one of the most important endeavors of Neoclassical architecture, so much so that the Foro Bonaparte was soon to inspire Naples' semicircular

Piazza del Plebiscito Piazza del Plebiscito (; nap, Chiazza d''o Plebbiscito) is a large public town square, square in central Naples, Italy. History Named after the plebiscite taken on October 21, 1860, that brought Naples into the unified Italian unification#Creat ...

with the church of San Francesco di Paola.

Piazza San Marco in Venice

In 1815, Antolini's plans for the rebuilding of the west end of St Mark's Square in Venice, where the old church of San Geminiano and extensions of the

Procuratie Vecchie The Procuratie (English: Procuracies) are three connected buildings along the perimeter of Saint Mark's Square in Venice, Italy. Two of the buildings, the Procuratie Vecchie (Old Procuracies) and the Procuratie Nuove (New Procuracies), were ...

and Procuratie Nuove were demolished as part of Napoleonic schemes for alterations to the Piazza, also ran into trouble. The commission was finally given to the architect Giuseppe Maria Soli who radically altered Antolini's designs.Plant, Margaret: Venice Fragile City 1797-1997 (Yale U.P. 2002) pp.65-71

Later life

For political reasons, Antolini returned to Milan in 1815 where he taught architecture at the

for the remainder of his life. He continued to author works on both hydraulics and architecture including proposals for straightening the River Topino in

Umbria it, Umbro (man) it, Umbra (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , ...

and designs for a bridge over the

Tiber The Tiber ( ; it, Tevere ; la, Tiberis) is the third-longest river in Italy and the longest in Central Italy, rising in the Apennine Mountains in Emilia-Romagna and flowing through Tuscany, Umbria, and Lazio, where it is joined by th ...

Città di Castello Città di Castello (); "Castle Town") is a city and '' comune'' in the province of Perugia, in the northern part of Umbria. It is situated on a slope of the Apennines, on the flood plain along the upper part of the river Tiber. The city is north o ...

. He died in Bologna on 11 March 1841.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Antolini, Giovanni Antonio 1756 births 1841 deaths 19th-century Italian architects Architects from Bologna Academic staff of Brera Academy