Key to Umbria: Orvieto
 


Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-73)


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Vignola in:  Assisi     Montefalco     Norcia    Perugia     Terni 

Giacomo Barozzi is usually called simply Vignola, which refers to the town near Modena in which he was born.  He trained in Bologna and arrived in Rome in 1536.  He subsequently made his career there, apart from a period at the court of King Francis I at Fontainebleau in 1541-3.  he died there and was buried in the Pantheon.

His two great masterpieces are:

  1. the Villa Farnese at Caprarola; and

  2. the Jesuits' Chiesa del Gesù in Rome.

Assisi

Design of Santa Maria degli Angeli (1569)

The Perugian architect Galeazzo Alessi received a payment for a model of the new church of Santa Maria degli Angeli in 1568.  Bishop Filippo Geri laid the foundation stone on 25th March 1569, at which point Vignola, as papal architect, was asked for his advice on the design.


Montefalco

Palazzo Tempestivi (16th century)

Cherubino Tempestivi, who was the secretary to Pope Clement VIII, built this palace in Via Tempestivi.   The design is sometimes attributed to Vignola.



Norcia

La Castellina (1554-63)


Pope Julius III commissioned Vignola to build la Castellina on the site of the old Palazzo del Podestà as a fortified residence for the papal governor.  It now houses the Museo Civico.

Perugia

Cappella della Corgna (1555-62)

Cardinal Ascanio della Corgna commissioned the “Giovanni di Domenico Fiorentino” (who has been identified as Giovanni di Domenico Caffarelli da Settignano) to build this chapel in San Francesco al Prato (on the left wall of the right transept), following a design by Vignola.  Two years later, Giacomo della Corgna commissioned its decoration by Giovanni Battista Ingoni, in a contract that specified that Vignola would assess the work and set the price.   

Palazzo Graziani (1585)

Local tradition attributes the design of Palazzo Graziani to Vignola, although it was built some twelve years after his death.   It was actually designed by Valentino Martelli, whose training in Rome had exposed him to Vignola’s work.



Terni

Design for Ponte Sant’ Antonio (1569)

Ponte Sant’ Antonio was badly damaged by floods in 1500 and again in 1550, and was then replaced by a temporary wooden structure.  Vignola designed a more permanent structure in 1569, but it continued to cause problems and had to be demolished. 


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