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Gian Battista Vaccarini
Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (3 February 1702 – 11 March 1768) was a Sicilian architect, notable for his work in the Sicilian Baroque style in his homeland during the period of massive rebuilding following the earthquake of 1693. Many of his principal works can be found in the area in and around Catania. Biography Vaccarini was born in Palermo. During the 1720s, he studied architecture in Rome, with the support of Cardinal Pietro Ottoboni, the great patron of Corelli. Vaccarini was mostly interested on combining the styles of Borromini and Bernini. This was an eclectic fusion of architectural principles that was common at the end of the 17th century, producing such notable buildings as Giovan Antonio de' Rossi's Palazzo Altieri, and Palazzo Asti-Bonaparte. Vaccarini returned to Sicily around 1730. His work seems then to have been influenced by the school of architecture of Alessandro Specchi, Francesco de Sanctis and Filippo Raguzzini, who tended to reject the cla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alessandro Specchi
Alessandro Specchi (1668 – 16 November 1729) was an Italian architect and engraver. Biography Born in 1668 in Rome, he trained as an architect under Carlo Fontana. He also specialized as an engraver and made a well known series of plates for prints of '' vedute'' or views of Rome. As an architect, he was influenced by Francesco Borromini. His first major constructed work was the design of the Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ... Porto di Ripetta, the port of Rome, on the banks of the River Tevere or Tiber. With the design of this port Specchi broke with the classicizing architecture of his teacher Fontana. The port was destroyed in 1874 with the development of flood defences and the river bank road of Lungotevere, and replaced by Rome's Ponte Cavo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Obelisk
An obelisk (; , diminutive of (') ' spit, nail, pointed pillar') is a tall, slender, tapered monument with four sides and a pyramidal or pyramidion top. Originally constructed by Ancient Egyptians and called ''tekhenu'', the Greeks used the Greek term to describe them, and this word passed into Latin and ultimately English. Though William Thomas used the term correctly in his ''Historie of Italie'' of 1549, by the late sixteenth century (after reduced contact with Italy following the excommunication of Queen Elizabeth), Shakespeare failed to distinguish between pyramids and obelisks in his plays and sonnets. Ancient obelisks are monolithic and consist of a single stone; most modern obelisks are made of several stones. Ancient obelisks Egyptian Obelisks were prominent in the architecture of the ancient Egyptians, and played a vital role in their religion placing them in pairs at the entrance of the temples. The word "obelisk" as used in English today is of Greek rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elephant Fountain
The Elephant Fountain () is a monument located in the center of Piazza del Duomo, Catania, Piazza del Duomo in the Sicily, Sicilian city of Catania, designed by architect Giovanni Battista Vaccarini between 1735 and 1737. Its main element is a black basalt statue of an elephant, commonly called (), which has become the emblem of the city of Catania. Structure The Elephant Fountain was created by Giovanni Battista Vaccarini, an architect from Palermo, as part of the rebuilding of the city of Etna after the January 11, 1693 earthquake. Most scholars believe that Vaccarini was inspired by Gian Lorenzo Bernini's ''Elephant and Obelisk'', a similar structure in Rome's Piazza della Minerva. However, other possibilities exist; an elephant surmounted by an obelisk with a ball on top is documented in the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, page 38, (Venice, 1499) attributed to Francesco Colonna (writer), Francesco Colonna. The plinth consists of a white marble pedestal located in the center o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palazzo San Giuliano, Catania
The Palazzo San Giuliano is a monumental palace located in Piazza Universitaria, in the center of the city of Catania, Sicily, southern Italy. Once a private home of the San Giuliano branch of the House of Paternò, it has also served as hospital, bank, theater, and hotel. Presently it houses the administrative offices of the University of Catania, and stands across the piazza from the Palazzo dell'Università, which has the rector's offices, a library, and a small museum. History and description After the 1693 Sicily earthquake raze the prior structure at the site, a palace was commissioned by the Marquise of San Giuliano, a member of the aristocratic Paternò family. The work was completed in 1738 under the designs of Giovanni Battista Vaccarini Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (3 February 1702 – 11 March 1768) was a Sicilian architect, notable for his work in the Sicilian Baroque style in his homeland during the period of massive rebuilding following the earthquake of 1693. M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palazzo Dell'Università, Catania
A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which housed the Roman Empire, Imperial residences. Most European languages have a version of the term (''palats'', ''palais'', ''palazzo'', ''palacio'', etc.) and many use it to describe a broader range of buildings than English. In many parts of Europe, the equivalent term is also applied to large private houses in cities, especially of the aristocracy. It is also used for some large official buildings that have never had a residential function; for example in French-speaking countries ''Palais de Justice'' is the usual name of important courthouses. Many historic palaces such as parliaments, museums, hotels, or office buildings are now put to other uses. The word is also sometimes used to describe an elaborate building used for public ent ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Piazza Dell'Università, Catania
Piazza dell'Università is a city square in the historic center of the city of Catania, in Sicily, Italy. It is bisected by . Description The piazza is surrounded by buildings now occupied with offices of the University of Catania: Palazzo dell'Università; Palazzo Gioeni Asmundo; and the Palazzo San Giuliano. An 1864 guidebook calls this the ''Piazza degli Studi'', and recalls the piazza once previously hosted a statue of the Bourbon King Francis I of the Two Sicilies by Antonio Cali. by Geoffrey Dennis, page 393. 
In the piazza are four lamp-posts, completed in ...
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Cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a pedestal, or along the top of an interior wall. A simple cornice may be formed with a crown, as in crown moulding atop an interior wall or above kitchen cabinets or a bookcase. A projecting cornice on a building has the function of throwing rainwater free of its walls. In residential building practice, this function is handled by projecting gable ends, roof eaves, and rain gutter, gutters. However, house eaves may also be called "cornices" if they are finished with decorative moulding. In this sense, while most cornices are also eaves (overhanging the sides of the building), not all eaves are usually considered cornices. Eaves are primarily functional and not necessarily decorative, while cornices have a decorative a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rustication (architecture)
image:Palazzo medici riccardi, bugnato 01.JPG, Two different styles of rustication in the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi in Florence; smooth-faced above and rough-faced below Rustication is a range of masonry techniques used in classical architecture giving visible surfaces a finish texture that contrasts with smooth, squared-block masonry called ashlar. The visible face of each individual block is cut back around the edges to make its size and placing very clear. In addition the central part of the face of each block may be given a deliberately rough or patterned surface. Rusticated masonry is usually "dressed", or squared off neatly, on all sides of the stones except the face that will be visible when the stone is put in place. This is given wide joints that emphasize the edges of each block, by angling the edges ("channel-jointed"), or dropping them back a little. The main part of the exposed face may be worked flat and smooth or left with, or worked, to give a more or less rough or ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palazzo Degli Elefanti
Palazzo degli Elefanti (English: "Elephants Palace") is a historical building in Catania, region of Sicily, southern Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b .... It currently houses the city's Town Hall. In the past, the prior building was also known as the Palazzo Senatorio or Loggia Senatoria. History and description The main facade of the palace, faces the northern side of the rectangular Piazza del Duomo; while across the square, on the southern end stands the Palazzo del Seminario dei Chierici. The Palazzo degli Elefanti was begun in 1696 after the devastating earthquake of 1693. Construction was begun using the designs of Giovanni Battista Longobardo. The eastern, southern, and western façades were however designed at a later stage by Giovan Battista Vacca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Spanish Steps
The Spanish Steps () in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top. The monumental stairway of 135 steps is linked with the Trinità dei Monti church, under the patronage of the House of Bourbon, Bourbon kings of France, at the top of the steps and the Spanish Embassy to the Holy See in the Palazzo Monaldeschi at the bottom of the steps. The stairway was designed by the architects Francesco de Sanctis (architect), Francesco de Sanctis and Alessandro Specchi. History Generations of heated debate over how the steep, slope to the church on a shoulder of the Pincio should be Urban planning, urbanized preceded the final execution. Archival drawings from the 1580s show that Pope Gregory XIII was interested in constructing a stair to the recently completed façade of the French church. French diplomat to the Holy See Étienne Gueffier died in 1660, leaving part of his f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
