Nicola Salvi or Niccolò Salvi (6 August 1697 (Rome) – 8 February 1751 (Rome)) was an Italian architect; among his few projects completed is the famous Trevi fountain in

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 ...

, Italy.

Biography

Admitted to the Roman

Academy of Arcadia The Accademia degli Arcadi or Accademia dell'Arcadia, "Academy of Arcadia" or "Academy of the Arcadians", was an Italian literary academy founded in Rome in 1690. The full Italian official name was Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi. History F ...

in 1717, Salvi became an architect only after studies in mathematics and philosophy. His mentor in architecture was Antonio Canevari, who served also as consulting architect for the king of

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

. In 1728, Canevari left for Lisbon, and Salvi continued his commissions in Rome. Among these were ephemeral decorations and small decorative projects. In Rome, the patronage for the building of large structures had declined relative to the previous century. In 1732, competitions were held by Pope Clement XII for two large projects. One was to create a new façade for the church of Saint John Lateran, and another was for a public fountain at Trevi. The former completion was won by

Alessandro Galilei Alessandro Maria Gaetano Galilei (25 August 1691 – 21 December 1737) was an Italian mathematician, architect and theorist, a member of the same patrician family of Galileo. Biography Born in Florence, he received architectural and engineering t ...

, though Salvi's design had much praise. Salvi's design for the

fountain A fountain, from the Latin "fons" (genitive "fontis"), meaning source or spring, is a decorative reservoir used for discharging water. It is also a structure that jets water into the air for a decorative or dramatic effect. Fountains were ori ...

however was chosen instead of plans by

Ferdinando Fuga Ferdinando Fuga (11 November 1699 – 7 February 1782) was an Italian architect who was born in Florence, and is known for his work in Rome and Naples. Much of his early work was in Rome, notably, the Palazzo della Consulta (1732–7) at the Qu ...

and his friend

Luigi Vanvitelli Luigi Vanvitelli (; 12 May 1700 – 1 March 1773), known in Dutch as (), was an Italian architect and painter. The most prominent 18th-century architect of Italy, he practised a sober classicising academic Late Baroque style that made an eas ...

. Salvi did not live to see the fountain completed in 1762 by his friend

Pietro Bracci Pietro Bracci (1700–1773) was an Italian sculptor working in the Late Baroque manner. Biography He was born in Rome and became a student of Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari and Camillo Rusconi. His most familiar works are the colossal ''Oceanus' ...

. Salvi's other remaining works are few: he rebuilt the Chiesa di Santa Maria a Gradi (Church of Santa Maria in Gradi)] (1738) in

Viterbo Viterbo (; Viterbese: ; lat-med, Viterbium) is a city and ''comune'' in the Lazio region of central Italy, the capital of the province of Viterbo. It conquered and absorbed the neighboring town of Ferento (see Ferentium) in its early history ...

, but it was destroyed by bombs in

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

and is currently being restored. He also created a chapel, believed to be the most expensive ever created, for Igreja de São Roque Jesuit church in

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administrative limits w ...

, along with

, and a tabernacle for the abbey of

Monte Cassino Monte Cassino (today usually spelled Montecassino) is a rocky hill about southeast of Rome, in the Latin Valley, Italy, west of Cassino and at an elevation of . Site of the Roman town of Casinum, it is widely known for its abbey, the first ho ...

References

* A. Schiavo,'' The Trevi Fountain and other works of Nicola Salvi'', Rome 1956 * P. Portuguese,'' Nicola Salvi'','' in'' Baroque Rome, Rome 1973 * E. Kieven,'' Nicola Salvi and Luigi Vanvitelli at Rome'', in'' 'Luigi Vanvitelli and his circle'', edited by C. De Seta, Naples, 2000, p. 53-78 1697 births 1751 deaths Artists from Rome Italian Baroque architects {{Italy-architect-stub