Giovanni Battista Vaccarini (3 February 1702 – 11 March 1768) was a
Sicilian architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
, notable for his work in the
Sicilian Baroque
Sicilian Baroque is the distinctive form of Baroque architecture which evolved on the island of Sicily, off the southern coast of Italy, in the , when it was part of the Spanish Empire. The style is recognisable not only by its typical Baroque c ...
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
Catania (, , Sicilian and ) is the second largest municipality in Sicily, after Palermo. Despite its reputation as the second city of the island, Catania is the largest Sicilian conurbation, among the largest in Italy, as evidenced also by ...
.
Biography
![Catania, Palazzo dell'Università - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5f/Catania%2C_Palazzo_dell%27Universit%C3%A0_-_panoramio.jpg)
Vaccarini was born in
Palermo
Palermo ( , ; scn, Palermu , 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 ...
. During the 1720s, he studied architecture 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 ...
, with the support of Cardinal
Pietro Ottoboni
Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...
, the great patron of
Corelli. Vaccarini was mostly interested on combining the styles of
Borromini and
Bernini
Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, , ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 159828 November 1680) was an Italian sculptor and architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prominently the leading sculptor of his ...
. 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 Giovanni Antonio de' Rossi (1616–1695) was an Italian architect of the Baroque period, active mainly in Rome.
Life
He was a contemporary of Carlo Rainaldi.
In 1657, he completed the sacristy of Tivoli Cathedral. That same year, he designed the ...
's
Palazzo Altieri
Palazzo Altieri is a palace in Rome, which was the home of the Altieri family in the city. The palace faces the square in front of the Church of the Gesù.
The Altieri
The Altieri were one of the prominent families in Rome claiming descendancy ...
, 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
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 ...
,
Francesco de Sanctis and
Filippo Raguzzini
Filippo Raguzzini (19 July 1690 – 21 February 1771) was an Italian architect best known for a range of buildings constructed during the reign of Benedict XIII.
Biography
Raguzzini was born in Naples into a family of stonemasons. Little is kn ...
, who tended to reject the classicising of buildings in favour of a much more flamboyant style. Both Specchi and de Sanctis were closely involved with the design of grand exterior staircases, common to Italian buildings with a second-story
piano nobile
The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...
, and the climate completely negating the requirement for an internal entrance hall on the ground floor in order to provide quick easy access. De Sanctis had taken this feature one step further in 1723 with his design for the
Spanish steps
The Spanish Steps ( it, Scalinata di Trinità dei Monti) in Rome, Italy, climb a steep slope between the Piazza di Spagna at the base and Piazza Trinità dei Monti, dominated by the Trinità dei Monti church, at the top.
The monumental stairway ...
in Rome. This grand staircase approach to a building was to be invaluable in Sicily, not only for the practical reasons of entering the ''piano nobile'', but also for the creation of a grand approach to churches and cathedrals, where the topography of the site permits such a feature.
![CataniaPalazzoSanGiuliano msu2017-9544](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/CataniaPalazzoSanGiuliano_msu2017-9544.jpg)
The ground floor of the
Palazzo degli Elefanti
Palazzo degli Elefanti (English: "Elephants Palace") is a historical building in Catania, region of Sicily, southern Italy. It currently houses the city's Town Hall. In the past, the prior building was also known as the Palazzo Senatorio or Logg ...
in Catania (already in construction when Vaccarini came to the project) shows the decorated
rustication in a 16th-century Sicilian fashion. The ground floor pilasters continue but unrusticated, the
cornice
In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...
they support is entirely in accordance with Roman contemporary design, as are the windows. The windows on the piano nobile have straight, but broken, pediments with canted sides, a theme commonly reproduced by Vaccarini in ensuing years. The free-standing columns supporting a straight balcony endow a pompous grandeur to the entrance. The balcony was to become a feature of Sicilian Baroque; it was later to take many shapes, often curved, serpentine, or a combination of both juxtaposing. Such balconies were often decorated with elaborate wrought-iron balustrades. He also designed a number of the buildings around
Piazza dell'Università such as the Palazzo dell'Università (Sicolorum Gymnasium) and Palazzo San Giuliano.
In front of this building, Vaccarini designed a fountain, consisting in an
obelisk
An obelisk (; from grc, ὀβελίσκος ; diminutive of ''obelos'', " spit, nail, pointed pillar") is a tall, four-sided, narrow tapering monument which ends in a pyramid-like shape or pyramidion at the top. Originally constructed by Anc ...
upon the back of the elephant ''u Liotru'' (symbol of Catania), inspiring to the ''
Hypnerotomachia Poliphili
''Hypnerotomachia Poliphili'' (; ), called in English ''Poliphilo's Strife of Love in a Dream'' or ''The Dream of Poliphilus'', is a book said to be by Francesco Colonna. It is a famous example of an incunable (a work of early printing). The wor ...
''. Vaccarini completed the square by designing the main facade of the cathedral, a thirty-year project not completed until 1768. According to Professor
Anthony Blunt
Anthony Frederick Blunt (26 September 1907 – 26 March 1983), styled Sir Anthony Blunt KCVO from 1956 to November 1979, was a leading British art historian and Soviet spy.
Blunt was professor of art history at the University of London, dire ...
, the cathedral was not one of Vaccarini's successes.
As a church architect, Vaccarini introduced into Sicily the church plans of the
Renaissance
The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ideas ...
which had passed Sicily by. However, many of his churches are based on the designs of churches he had seen in Rome. The church of S. Agata in Catania, for instance, is based on
Sant'Agnese in Agone
Sant'Agnese in Agone (also called Sant'Agnese in Piazza Navona) is a 17th-century Baroque church in Rome, Italy. It faces onto the Piazza Navona, one of the main urban spaces in the historic centre of the city and the site where the Early Christia ...
(Rome).
Vaccarini's Baroque became prevalent in Catania, and much copied for three-quarters of a century. However, he was not employed only in Sicily, since in 1756 he journeyed to
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
to aid
Vanvitelli and
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 Quiri ...
in the construction of the marble
Palace of Caserta
The Royal Palace of Caserta ( it, Reggia di Caserta ) is a former royal residence in Caserta, southern Italy, constructed by the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies as their main residence as kings of Naples. It is the largest palace erected in Europe ...
. Vanvitelli's influence is clearly visible in Vaccarini's final works, especially the
Collegio Cutelli and the
Badia di Sant'Agata.
Vaccarini died in Palermo in 1768.
Analysis
Vaccarini is notable today for his input into the development of Sicilian Baroque. While much of his work was later overshadowed by a younger generation of Sicilian architects, he was one of the founding architects of the style; in particular, his handling of the Baroque
double staircase
An imperial staircase (sometimes erroneously known as a "double staircase") is the name given to a staircase with divided flights. Usually the first flight rises to a half-landing and then divides into two symmetrical flights both rising with ...
, which continued to evolve, in a way peculiar to Sicily, after his death.
References
*
Grand Tradition.Netretrieved 4 May 2008.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vaccarini, Giovanni Battista
1702 births
1768 deaths
Architects from Palermo
Catania
18th-century Italian architects
Italian Baroque architects
Architects of the Sicilian Baroque