Ferdinando Fuga
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Ferdinando Fuga (11 November 1699 – 7 February 1782) was an Italian architect who was born in
Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...
, and is known for his work in
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
and
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
. Much of his early work was in Rome, notably, the
Palazzo della Consulta The Palazzo della Consulta (built 1732–1737) is a late Baroque palace in central Rome, Italy; since 1955, it houses the Constitutional Court of Italy, Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic. It sits across the Piazza del Quirinale from the ...
(1732–7) at the
Quirinal The Quirinal Hill (; ; ) is one of the Seven Hills of Rome, at the north-east of the city center. It is the location of the official residence of the Italian head of state, who resides in the Quirinal Palace; by metonymy "the Quirinal" has com ...
, the Palazzo Corsini (1736–54), the façade of the
Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...
(1741–3), and the Church of Sant'Apollinare (1742–8). He later moved to Naples and notably designed the Albergo de' Poveri (an enormous work-house) (1751–81), the façade of the Church of the Gerolamini, and that of the Palazzo Giordano (both c.1780,).


Early work

After studying under Giovanni Battista Foggini, Fuga settled in Rome in 1718. Throughout the 1720s he worked on three projects: submitting a design for the
Trevi Fountain The Trevi Fountain () is an 18th-century fountain in the Trevi (rione of Rome), Trevi district in Rome, Italy, designed by Italian architect Nicola Salvi and completed by Giuseppe Pannini in 1762 and several others. Standing high and wide, it i ...
in 1723, and 2 designs for façades for the churches San Giovanni in Laterano, 1723, and Santa Maria sopra Minerva, 1725. In 1730, after a brief stay in Naples, Fuga was commissioned by
Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII (; ; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the growth of a surplus in the papal ...
to design his
family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
home Palazzo Corsini, Rome and then later to build the Coffee House of the
Quirinal Palace The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of Italy, President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outs ...
as a reception room for Benedict XIV Lambertini. His first significant work was in Naples. He was commissioned to design the richly decorated chapel of the Palazzo Cellamare, as well as its rusticated gate to the gardens with a scrolling pediment and a sculptured
cartouche upalt=A stone face carved with coloured hieroglyphics. Two cartouches - ovoid shapes with hieroglyphics inside - are visible at the bottom., Birth and throne cartouches of Pharaoh KV17.html" ;"title="Seti I, from KV17">Seti I, from KV17 at the ...
of arms, (1726—1727); Fuga's patron was the infamous ambassador, Antonio del Giudice, Prince of Cellamare. Fuga also travelled to
Palermo Palermo ( ; ; , locally also or ) is a city in southern Italy, the capital (political), capital of both the autonomous area, autonomous region of Sicily and the Metropolitan City of Palermo, the city's surrounding metropolitan province. The ...
in 1729–1730 in connection with a projected bridge over the Milicia.


Work in Rome

After his return to Rome, he was nominated as the architect of the pontifical palaces by his Florentine countryman
Pope Clement XII Pope Clement XII (; ; 7 April 16526 February 1740), born Lorenzo Corsini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 July 1730 to his death in February 1740. Clement presided over the growth of a surplus in the papal ...
Corsini, a position later confirmed by Benedict XIV. Fuga's masterwork is the ''palazzo''-like screening façade he erected in front of the
basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
of
Santa Maria Maggiore Santa Maria Maggiore (), also known as the Basilica of Saint Mary Major or the Basilica of Saint Mary the Great, is one of the four Basilicas in the Catholic Church#Major and papal basilicas, major papal basilicas and one of the Seven Pilgrim C ...
(1741–1743). A similar project, considered to be a dry run for the greater project, is the façade he provided for
Santa Cecilia in Trastevere Santa Cecilia in Trastevere is a 5th-century Churches of Rome, church in Rome, Italy, in the Trastevere rioni of Rome, rione. It is dedicated to the Roman martyr Saint Cecilia (early 3rd century AD) and serves as the conventual church for the adja ...
. In both cases, care was taken not to mar the mosaics of the medieval fronts that still lie behind Fuga's screens, which provided a
narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of Early Christian art and architecture, early Christian and Byzantine architecture, Byzantine basilicas and Church architecture, churches consisting of the entrance or Vestibule (architecture), ve ...
for each ancient basilica. Among his other major commissions in Rome was the
Palazzo della Consulta The Palazzo della Consulta (built 1732–1737) is a late Baroque palace in central Rome, Italy; since 1955, it houses the Constitutional Court of Italy, Constitutional Court of the Italian Republic. It sits across the Piazza del Quirinale from the ...
(1732–1735), which, like the nearby Palazzo Quirinale, fronts the Piazza di Monte Cavallo. Fuga designed the two-storey façade with a ''
piano nobile ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house ...
'' whose windows have low arched heads set in fielded panels, over a ground floor with low
mezzanine A mezzanine (; or in Italian, a ''mezzanino'') is an intermediate floor in a building which is partly open to the double-height ceilinged floor below, or which does not extend over the whole floorspace of the building, a loft with non-sloped ...
. On the lower storey, the panels have channeled rustication and rusticated quoins at the corners. Pilasters are applied only to the central three-bay block, which barely projects, and to the corners. Between 1730 and 1732, Fuga completed the extension of the ''Manica Lunga'' of the
Palazzo del Quirinale The Quirinal Palace ( ) is a historic building in Rome, Italy, the main official residence of the President of the Italian Republic, together with Villa Rosebery in Naples and the Tenuta di Castelporziano, an estate on the outskirts of Rome, som ...
with the construction of the adjoining building called the ''Palazzina del Segretario delle Cifre''. The little church of Santa Maria dell’Orazione e Morte (1733–37) was a small project undertaken for the ''Compagna della buona morte'' whose role since 1538 had been to give decent burial to the unclaimed corpses of Rome. Fuga was himself a member of this confraternity which possessed its own ''
coemeterium Coemeterium (Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lo ...
'' on the banks of the Tiber, since lost to the nineteenth-century construction of the '' Lungotevere''. The previous church of 1575 was demolished in 1733, and Fuga gave the new one an elliptical plan under an elliptical dome. On its crowded façade a triangular pediment encloses a segmental one, both cornices breaking forwards at the center and at the corners; pairs of columns fill the narrow recesses between the wide central bay and the corners, which are emphasized with stacked pilasters. Skulls wreathed with laurel serve as brackets for the pediment of the door. Various transformations were effected for the relatives of Pope Clement XII Corsini in the Palazzo Riario alla Lungara, which had been modified for
Christina, queen of Sweden Christina (; 18 December O.S. 8 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="nowiki/>Old Style and New Style dates">O.S. 8 December1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Monarchy of Sweden, Queen of Sweden from ...
in the previous century but later became the Palazzo Corsini alla Lungara, purchased on 27 July 1736 from Duke Riario by Don Neri and Don Bartolomeo Corsini, for 70 thousand scudi. After Christina's death in 1689, her sculpture gallery and her library were emptied. Fuga was called in to pull together the 15th and 16th-century amenagements for the Corsini brothers, works which took from 1736 to 1758 before all was finally completed. The Corsini retained Christina's bedroom just as she had left it, and the "urban" front in piazza Fiammetta had to be left untouched, but the weight of her library had produced cracks in the vaulting below it, and repairs to the existing structure were not finished until 1738. Fuga worked on the garden front of the palazzo, beginning with work on the library wing for Neri Corsini. In 1751-53 he added an identical central block containing a theatrical divided staircase, lit with large windows that looked onto the garden
parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, plats, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the ...
s, which had been modified and brought up to date in 1741. Then the two were linked with a ground-floor portico. In the interiors, fuga managed in innovative ways to maintain a separation of the functional service circulation from the suites of parade rooms. In 1742,
Pope Benedict XIV Pope Benedict XIV (; ; 31 March 1675 – 3 May 1758), born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 17 August 1740 to his death in May 1758. Pope Benedict X (1058–1059) is now con ...
commissioned Fuga to rebuild Basilica di Sant'Apollinare."Church of Sant'Apollinare", Turismo Roma, Major Events, Sport, Tourism and Fashion Department
/ref> Fuga's commission was completed about 1748.


Work in Kingdom of Naples

In 1748, he was called to
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
along with a team under Luigi Vanvitelli, to work for the new Bourbon King of Naples
Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...
, King of the
Two Sicilies The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies () was a kingdom in Southern Italy from 1816 to 1861 under the control of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, a cadet branch of the Bourbons. The kingdom was the largest sovereign state by population and land are ...
. Here Fuga worked as one of the court architects in renovations to the Naples, where the king and his progressive minister
Bernardo Tanucci Bernardo Tanucci (20 February 1698 – 29 April 1783) was an Italian jurist and statesman, who brought an enlightened absolutism style of government to the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies for Charles III and his son Ferdinand IV. Biography Early ...
were changing the face of the city, opening new neighborhoods, driving new arterial avenues and promoting some social and economic modernizations in the backward kingdom. The immediate part of the
urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...
involved, for example, the construction of the colossal '' Albergo dei Poveri'' with a gray stucco front extending of 354 m. It was intended as a hospice to shelter 8,000 poor from all over the kingdom (segregated by sex and age) but especially the "street people" of Naples, a project which was realized only in part. Fuga's final design, centered on a hexagonal church, devoted one courtyard to each of the intended social classes— men, women, boys and girls—each with their separate entrance. Construction was begun in July 1751. After the departure of King Charles to take over the crown of Spain, work slowed, and when it finally ceased in 1819, three of Fuga's five courts were completed, as they may be seen today, damaged by the earthquake of 1980 and closed. A second project with an enlightened social cast was the ''Cimitero delle 366 Fosse'' (" Cemetery of the 366 Fossae" one for each day of the year) not far from the ''Albergo'', for which Fuga succeeded in obtaining assent from Ferdinand IV in 1762. This project systematized the daily burden of corpses of the poorest Neapolitans that were delivered to the Ospedale and buried in various modes around the outskirts of the city. The cemetery functioned until 1890. The paving in colored marbles he designed in 1761 for the basilica of Santa Chiara no longer exists, but his Chapel of the ''Regi Depositi'' (1766) remains. In a third vast public project, Fuga also designed the ''Granili'' (1779?), which were more than immense public granaries; they also contained a military arsenal and a ropewalk (since demolished). And a third Bourbon public venture was the ceramic manufactory adjoining the park of
Caserta Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...
(1771–1772). In Palermo, the Gothic and Romanesque cathedral complex had developed damage from earthquakes. In 1767, Fuga was entrusted with the reconstruction in the interior, the small subsidiary domes over the nave chapels, and the addition of a tall dome over the crossing. The interior has an unexpected simplicity relative to the eclectic jumbles of styles visible from the exterior. In Naples, Fuga was called upon in 1768 to transform the grand reception room of the Royal Palace, which had been in general disuse since the court had removed to
Caserta Caserta ( ; ) is the capital of the province of Caserta in the Campania region of Italy. An important agricultural, commercial, and industrial ''comune'' and city, Caserta is located 36 kilometres north of Naples on the edge of the Campanian p ...
, into a court theatre. For private clients he constructed numerous ''palazzi'', notably Palazzo Aquino di Caramanico and Palazzo Giordano, as well as villas for aristocratic patrons. He designed the Villa Favorita at
Ercolano Ercolano () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Naples, Campania of Southern Italy. It lies at the western foot of Mount Vesuvius, on the Bay of Naples, just southeast of the city of Naples. The medieval town of Resina () was bui ...
, in a manner traditional in Italy, has one façade directly on the street, the other giving on to extensive gardens.The Villa La Favorita was acquired and expanded by the Royal Family. In his last work, the façade of the Church of the Gerolamini (), which belies its date, he remained essentially a fully Baroque architect. A square, Piazza Ferdinando Fuga, was dedicated to him in the Vomero district, in
Naples Naples ( ; ; ) is the Regions of Italy, regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its Metropolitan City of N ...
.


References


Sources

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External links


Final design for the Palazzo della Consultà, 1732
Palazzo Cellamare's pedimented doorway

Views in an album of photos of the Khedive and his family.

in Around Naples Encyclopedia {{DEFAULTSORT:Fuga, Ferdinando 1699 births 1782 deaths Architects from Florence