Giulio Cesare Fontana (12 February 1580, Rome - 9 June 1627, Naples) was an Italian architect and engineer, mainly active in Naples and its surroundings.

Life

He was the son of Elisabetta Paduschi and her husband, the architect

Domenico Fontana Domenico Fontana (154328 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Biography He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time joint p ...

. He trained in the studios headed by his father, his uncle Giovanni Fontana, his cousin Carlo Maderno, Matteo Castelli and

Girolamo Rainaldi Girolamo Rainaldi (4 May 1570 – 15 July 1655) was an Italian architect who worked mainly in a conservative Mannerist style, often with collaborating architects. He was a successful competitor of Bernini. His son, Carlo Rainaldi, became an even ...

. He and his father travelled to the

Kingdom of Naples The Kingdom of Naples ( la, Regnum Neapolitanum; it, Regno di Napoli; nap, Regno 'e Napule), also known as the Kingdom of Sicily, was a state that ruled the part of the Italian Peninsula south of the Papal States between 1282 and 1816. It was ...

to design the ''Dogana nuova'' (

1594 Events January–June * March 21 – Henry IV enters his capital of Paris for the first time. * April 17 – Hyacinth of Poland is canonized. * May ** Uprising in Banat of Serbs against Ottoman rule ends with the public ...

) and the crypt of the Duomo di Salerno and the Duomo di Amalfi - Giulio Cesare was director of works on both these crypts until 1612. He also summoned

Bartolomeo Picchiatti Bartolomeo Picchiatti (Ferrara, 1571 – Naples, 3 April 1643) was an Italian engineer and architect. A short street in the Soccavo area of the city is named after him. Life He moved to Naples in 1593, having been summoned by the architect Do ...

from

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

as a collaborator. In 1607, following his father's death, he became chief royal architect of the Kingdom, restoring

Castel Nuovo Castel Nuovo (; "New Castle"), often called Maschio Angioino (; "Angevin Keep"), is a medieval castle located in front of Piazza Municipio and the city hall ( Palazzo San Giacomo) in central Naples, Campania, Italy. Its scenic location and impo ...

and leading work on the

Palazzo Reale This is a list of royal palaces, sorted by continent. Africa * Abdin Palace, Cairo * Al-Gawhara Palace, Cairo * Koubbeh Palace, Cairo * Tahra Palace, Cairo * Menelik Palace * Jubilee Palace * Guenete Leul Palace * Imperial Palace- Massa ...

. That same year he took part in the competition to design the

Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius The Royal Chapel of the Treasure of St. Januarius, or the ''Reale cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro'', is a chapel located in the Cathedral of Naples, Italy, and dedicated to St. Januarius, patron saint of the city. This is the most lavishly ...

organised by the Deputazione della Real Cappella del Tesoro. Other competitors included Ceccardo Bernucci,

Giovan Battista Cavagna Giovanni Battista Cavagna, also known as Cavagni or Gavagni (c. 1545 in Rome – 1613) was an Italian architect, engineer, and painter mainly in Naples, but also in Rome and Ascoli Piceno, Italy. Biography In Naples, he worked in 1572–1577 ...

, Francesco Grimaldi,

Giovanni Cola di Franco Giovanni Cola di Franco was an Italian Mannerist architect active between 1596 and 1621, mainly in Naples, where he was born and died. He collaborated with contemporary architects such as Francesco Grimaldi, Bartolomeo Picchiatti and Giovan Giacom ...

Michelangelo Naccherino Michelangelo Naccherino (Florence, March 6, 1550 – Naples, February, 1622) was an Italian sculptor and architect, active mainly in the Kingdom of Naples, Italy. He supposedly was a pupil of Giambologna in Florence, but due to disagreemen ...

Dionisio Nencioni di Bartolomeo Dionisio Nencioni di Bartolomeo (1559, Florence - 1638, Naples) was an Italian architect, mainly active in Naples, to which he moved in 1584. He worked on the Hieronymite church from 1587 until his death, in collaboration with Giovanni Antonio D ...

and

Giovan Giacomo Di Conforto Giovanni Giacomo Di Conforto or Giovanni Giacomo Conforto (1569 – June 1630, in Naples) was an Italian architect and engineer, active mainly in Naples, Italy, in a late Mannerist style. He participated in the construction of many churches in Nap ...

. A commission in Rome judged the competition and the designs by father Grimaldi and Giovanni Cola di Franco were declared the winning entries. In 1612 viceroy

Pedro Fernández de Castro Pedro Fernández de Castro (Algeciras, 1342), nicknamed ''el de la Guerra'' ('of the War'), was a powerful Galician noble and military figure of the House of Castro, descended by illegitimate lines from the kings of Castile-Leon- Galicia. Pedr ...

, count of

Lemos Lemos is a Portuguese-language surname. It can be also Greek (Λεμός). Notable people by that name include: Portuguese surname * Álvaro Lemos (born 1993), Spanish professional footballer. * Amanda Lemos (born 1987), Brazilian mixed martial ...

, commissioned him to convert the former cavallerizza into the Palazzo dei Regi Studi, which now houses the

Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli The National Archaeological Museum of Naples ( it, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, italic=no, sometimes abbreviated to MANN) is an important Italian archaeological museum, particularly for ancient Roman remains. Its collection includes wor ...

- nel frattempo operò nella sistemazione dei

Regi Lagni The Regi Lagni are a set of rectilinear and mostly man-made channels covering 1.095 km2 in 99 towns in the Province of Caserta, Province of Avellino, Province of Benevento and the Metropolitan City of Naples. They were built as part of canali ...

. Around the same time he designed the grain pits in Largo Mercatello (now Piazza Dante) in Naples and worked on the

. In 1626 he designed the portale dell'Annunziata gateway in

Aversa Aversa () is a city and ''comune'' in the Province of Caserta in Campania, southern Italy, about 24 km north of Naples. It is the centre of an agricultural district, the ''Agro Aversano'', producing wine and cheese (famous for the typical bu ...

, took part in completing the oratory of San Carlo Borromeo near the church of Sant'Anna dei Lombardi - that church also contains the funerary monument to Domenico Fontana, designed by Giulio Cesare in 1627 but badly damaged during World War Two. F. Strazzullo, ''Architetti e ingegneri napoletani dal '500 al '700'', Napoli 1969

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Giulio Cesare 16th-century Italian architects 17th-century Italian architects Italian Baroque architects Architects from Naples 1580 births 1627 deaths