Giuseppe Maria Soli (23 June 1747 – 20 October 1822) was an Italian architect.

Biography

He was born in

Vignola Vignola ( Modenese: ; Bolognese: ) is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Modena (Emilia-Romagna), Italy. Its economy is based on agriculture, especially fruit farming, but there are also mechanical industries and service companies. The c ...

to a peasant family, and after taking note of his talent, Count Malvasia patronized his education at the

Academy of Fine Arts of Bologna The Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna ("academy of fine arts of Bologna") is a public tertiary academy of fine art in Bologna, in Emilia-Romagna in northern Italy. It has a campus in Cesena. Giorgio Morandi taught engraving at the Accademia ...

. From there, the city of

Modena Modena (, , ; egl, label=Emilian language#Dialects, Modenese, Mòdna ; ett, Mutna; la, Mutina) is a city and ''comune'' (municipality) on the south side of the Po Valley, in the Province of Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern I ...

awarded him a scholarship to study in Rome. He returned to Modena to found and direct their Academy of Fina Arts. he was made architect to the court of Modena. Upon the Napoleonic reorganization of northern Italy into the

Cisalpine Republic The Cisalpine Republic ( it, Repubblica Cisalpina) was a sister republic of France in Northern Italy that existed from 1797 to 1799, with a second version until 1802. Creation After the Battle of Lodi in May 1796, Napoleon Bonaparte organized t ...

, he was named professor of design for the military school of Modena. He was recruited to design various defensive works in Milan, Mantua, and Venice. Upon the Ducal restoration, he remained at his court position. He designed the Palazzo Bellucci in Vignola; the church in

Carbognano Carbognano is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Viterbo in the Italy, Italian region Latium, located about northwest of Rome and about southeast of Viterbo. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 1,992 and an area of .All dem ...

near Rome; the bridges across the

Panaro river The Panaro is an Italian river and the final right-hand tributary to the Po, discounting the Cavo Napoleonico canal. It runs right across Emilia-Romagna in a north-easterly direction: from its source close to the Apennine watershed, where Emil ...

between Modena and Bologna and a bridge in Rimini; and three of the facades and two staircases of the

Ducal Palace of Modena The Ducal Palace of Modena is a Baroque palace in Modena, Italy. It was the residence of the Este Dukes of Modena between 1452 and 1859. It currently houses a portion of the Italian Military Academy. History The palace occupies the site of t ...

. He also lent himself to painting. He helped edit the ''Manuale di architettura del

Branca Branca is a feminine given name. It means "white" in Portuguese (it is a Portuguese cognate of the name Blanche). People with the surname * Infanta Branca, Lady of Guadalajara (1192–1240), Portuguese royal * Infanta Branca of Portugal (1259– ...

'' (1789, Modena).Dizionario biografico universale
Volume 5, by Felice Scifoni, Publisher Davide Passagli, Florence (1849); page 123. He putatively played a role in the plans for the west end of

Piazza San Marco Piazza San Marco (; vec, Piasa San Marco), often known in English as St Mark's Square, is the principal public square of Venice, Italy, where it is generally known just as ''la Piazza'' ("the Square"). All other urban spaces in the city (exc ...

. One of his pupils was Serafino Viani.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Soli Giuseppe Maria 1743 births 1822 deaths 18th-century Italian architects