Marchese Luigi Cagnola (9 June 1762 – 14 August 1833) was a Neoclassical Italian

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Biography

Cagnola was born in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. He was sent at the age of fourteen to the Clementine College at

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, and afterwards studied at the

University of Pavia The University of Pavia ( it, Università degli Studi di Pavia, UNIPV or ''Università di Pavia''; la, Alma Ticinensis Universitas) is a university located in Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. There was evidence of teaching as early as 1361, making it one ...

. He was intended for the legal profession, but his passion for architecture was too strong, and after holding some government posts at Milan, he entered as a competitor for the construction of the Porta Orientale. His designs were commended, but were not selected on account of the expense their adoption would have involved. From that time Cagnola devoted himself entirely to architecture. After the death of his father he spent two years in

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

and

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

, studying the architectural structures of these cities. In 1806 he was called upon to erect a

triumphal arch A triumphal arch is a free-standing monumental structure in the shape of an archway with one or more arched passageways, often designed to span a road. In its simplest form a triumphal arch consists of two massive piers connected by an arch, cr ...

for the marriage of Eugene Beauharnais with the princess of

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

. The arch was of wood, but was of such beauty that it was resolved to carry it out in

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

. The first stone was laid on October 14, 1807. The result was the magnificent Arco della Pace ("Arch of Peace") at Porta Sempione in Milan, surpassed in dimensions only by the

Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile (, , ; ) is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the ''étoile'' ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Si ...

. Among other works executed by Cagnola are the

Porta Ticinese Porta Ticinese (formerly known as Porta Cicca, and during Napoleonic rule as Porta Marengo)Porta Cicca' (in Italian) is a former city gate of Milan, Italy. The gate, facing south-west, was first created with the Spanish walls of the city, in the ...

and the chapel of Santa Marcellina in Milan, and the church tower in

Urgnano Urgnano (Bergamasque: ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Bergamo in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan and about south of Bergamo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 8,704 and an ...

. He died in Inverigo in 1833, five years before the Arco della Pace was completed. Outside of the town of Inverigo, he built a villa for himself, named Villa La Rotonda, completed by one of his pupils,

Francesco Peverelli Francesco Peverelli (1789 – 1854) was an Italian architect, active in Lombardy in a Neoclassical style. He was a pupil of Luigi Cagnola, and helped complete, with Francesco Londonio the Younger, the Arco della Pace in Milan,1762 births 1833 deaths Architects from Milan 19th-century Italian architects