Giovanni Battista Belluzzi (1506–1554), also known as Giovanni Battista di Bartolomeo Bellucci and as Il Sanmarino, was a

Sammarinese Sammarinese () are citizens and people of the Republic of San Marino. Language San Marino recognizes Italian as the official language. The indigenous Sammarinese language is a variety of Romagnol spoken by approximately 83 percent of the populati ...

architect and military engineer. He was born in

San Marino San Marino, officially the Republic of San Marino, is a landlocked country in Southern Europe, completely surrounded by Italy. Located on the northeastern slopes of the Apennine Mountains, it is the larger of two European microstates, microsta ...

on September 27, 1506, and at 18 years of age was sent by his father to

Bologna Bologna ( , , ; ; ) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in northern Italy. It is the List of cities in Italy, seventh most populous city in Italy, with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nationalities. Its M ...

, to learn commerce under Bastiano di Ronco, a merchant of the Guild of Wool. After two years, he returned to

, where he set up a wool business of his own. His first wife, Cagli, died shortly after they were married. His second wife was the daughter of

Girolamo Genga Girolamo Genga (c. 1476 – 11 July 1551) was an Italian painter and architect of the late Renaissance, Mannerist style. Life and career Genga was born in a region near Urbino. According mainly to Giorgio Vasari's biography, by age thirteen ...

(1467–1551). The couple lived with

, from whom Giovanni learned architecture. In 1541, his second wife died, leaving Giovanni to raise two sons. In 1543, Giovanni entered into the service of

Cosimo I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

, as an engineer. He designed fortifications for

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 ...

Pistoia Pistoia (; ) is a city and ''comune'' in the Italian region of Tuscany, the capital of a province of the same name, located about north-west of Florence and is crossed by the Ombrone Pistoiese, a tributary of the River Arno. It is a typic ...

Pisa Pisa ( ; ) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) in Tuscany, Central Italy, straddling the Arno just before it empties into the Ligurian Sea. It is the capital city of the Province of Pisa. Although Pisa is known worldwide for the Leaning Tow ...

and

San Miniato San Miniato is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Pisa, in the region of Tuscany, Italy. San Miniato sits at a historically strategic location atop three small hills where it dominates the lower Arno valley, between the valleys of the E ...

and also wrote a book on military architecture. He was wounded in the siege of

Montalcino Montalcino is a hill town and ''comune'' in the province of Siena, Tuscany, central Italy. The town is located to the west of Pienza, close to the Crete Senesi in Val d'Orcia. It is from Siena, from Florence and from Pisa. Monte Amiata is l ...

and was killed by enemy fire in a fortress of Aiuola.

Works

References

* Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, ''Dizionario biografico degli Italiani'', Rome, Istituto della enciclopedia italiana, 1966. * Thieme, Ulrich and Felix Becker, ''Allgemeines Lexikon der bildenden Künstler von der Antike bis zur Gegenwart'', Reprint of 1907 edition, Leipzig, Veb E.A. Seemann Verlag, 1980–1986. * * Vasari, Giorgio, ''

Le Vite delle più eccellenti pittori, scultori, ed architettori ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'' () is a series of artist biographies written by 16th-century Italian painter and architect Giorgio Vasari, which is considered "perhaps the most famous, and even today the ...

'', many editions and translations. {{DEFAULTSORT:Belluzzi, Giovanni Battista 1506 births 1554 deaths 16th-century Italian architects Italian Renaissance architects Architects from Tuscany Sammarinese artists Renaissance architects Military engineers