Giovan Battista Filippo Basile (August 8, 1825 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 ...

– June 16, 1891) was an Italian architect. Born to a family of humble means. From childhood,

Vincenzo Tineo Vincenzo Tineo ( Militello in Val di Catania, 27 February 1791 – Palermo, 25 July 1856) was an Italian Botanist. From 1814 to 1856 he was the director of the Palermo Botanical Garden. This botanist is denoted by the author abbreviation wh ...

, an erudite horticulturalist in Palermo, recognized Basile's talent, and was able to sponsor his education, and gain him entry into the university to study physical and mathematical sciences. Basile and eventually received or won his degree in architecture, which at the time was a prize conferred through a competition. He also taught physics at university, and at the atheneum, taught descriptive geometry and its applications. As a young man, he published his text on ''Practical Stereotomy''. He continued the study of figure drawing under the painter Salvatore Lo Forte. Completed such studies, Tineo sponsored some years of study at the University of Rome (La Sapienza) in architecture. There he took courses given by Tortolini,

Venturoli Venturoli is an Italian surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Angelo Venturoli Angelo Venturoli (1749 – March 7, 1821 in Bologna) was an Italian architect. He was born in Medicina in the Province of Bologna, and trained at the Acc ...

, and dal Cavalieri. He also attended the

Accademia di San Luca The Accademia di San Luca (the "Academy of Saint Luke") is an Italian academy of artists in Rome. The establishment of the Accademia de i Pittori e Scultori di Roma was approved by papal brief in 1577, and in 1593 Federico Zuccari became its fir ...

, and designed under Sarti and Poletti. He also was a disciple of the engraver of antiquities,

Luigi Canina Luigi Canina ( Casale Monferrato, 1795 – Florence, 1856) was an Italian archaeologist and architect. Luigi Canina, Italian architect and archeologist, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1795 and died in Florence in 1856. He was a pupil of Ferd ...

, before the latter was called to occupy an honorary position at the Royal Institute of British Architects. Basile performed studies on ancient and antique art and monuments, including the temples of

Fortuna Virilis In ancient Roman religion, Fortuna Virilis was an aspect or manifestation of the goddess Fortuna who despite her name ''(virilis'', "virile, manly") was cultivated by women only. She shared a festival day with Venus Verticordia on April 1 ''( Kal ...

, Vesta, and ''Giove Tonante (Thundering Jove''), and the tombs of Bibulus and Scipio, and the ruins of

Hadrian's Villa Hadrian's Villa ( it, Villa Adriana) is a UNESCO World Heritage Site comprising the ruins and archaeological remains of a large villa complex built c. AD 120 by Roman Emperor Hadrian at Tivoli outside Rome. The site is owned by the Republic of ...

in Tivoli. In this era, a number of artists from Naples and Sicily were sponsored by the public to study in Rome; among these artists were

Domenico Morelli Domenico Morelli (4 August 182313 August 1901) was an Italian painter, who mainly produced historical and religious works. Morelli was immensely influential in the arts of the second half of the 19th century, both as director of the Accademia di ...

, ill Cipolla, and Francesco Di Bartolo. Among his works are certainly worth mentioning the ''Teatro Massimo'' in Palermo (completed by his son

Ernesto Basile Ernesto Basile (31 January 1857 – 26 August 1932, in Palermo) was an Italian architect and an exponent of modernisme and Liberty style, the Italian variant of Art Nouveau. His style was known for its eclectic fusion of ancient, medieval and m ...

); the Neo-Gothic facade of the

Acireale Cathedral Acireale Cathedral ( it, Duomo di Acireale, ''Cattedrale Maria Santissima Annunziata'') is a Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the city of Acireale in Sicily, province of Catania, Italy. It was dec ...

; the villa Favaloro in Palermo (1889), also finished by his son Ernesto. He also designed several gardens such as for Villa Garibaldi and the English Garden in Palermo, Piazza Marina and Villa Vittorio Emanuele in Caltagirone. He is buried in the family grave at the Cemetery of the scrolls in Palermo.Derived from Italian Wikipedia Entry.

Writings

*Sul Palazzo Genuardi, Palermo, 1858

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Basile, Giovan Battista Filippo 1825 births 1891 deaths 19th-century Italian architects Architects from Palermo