Paolo Amato (24 January 1634 - 3 July 1714) was an Italian

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

and

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

architect. He is also notable as author of the treatise ''La Nuova Pratica di Prospettiva'' (''The New Method of Perspective''), published in Palermo in 1732.

Life

Born in

Ciminna Ciminna is a Sicilian city in the Metropolitan City of Palermo, located approximately southeast of its capital, Palermo. The city's economy is derived mainly from agriculture and traditional crafts. The artist and Franciscan priest Pasquale ...

, where the town hall and a circle in the local piazza are both now named after him, he studied under Angelo Italia and taught Giacomo Amato. His long and fertile career included time as official architect to the Senate of

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 ...

on Sicily, an office in which he designed stage sets and floats for the festivities for

Saint Rosalia Rosalia (1130–1166), also called La Santuzza or "''The Little Saint''", and in Sicilian as "Rusulia", is the patron saint of Palermo in Italy, Camargo, Chihuahua, and three towns in Venezuela: El Hatillo, Zuata, and El Playon. She is es ...

's day. He died in Palermo and both he and his brother Vincenzo are buried in

Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi The Church of Saint Nympha (Italian: Chiesa di Santa Ninfa or Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi) is a Baroque-Mannerist church of Palermo. The facade rises on Via Maqueda, a block north of the central intersection known as the Quattro Canti, in the q ...

church.

Works

His most important work design was the church of Santissimo Salvatore in Palermo, begun in 1682 on an elongated dodecagonal plan with an elliptical dome. In 1681 he designed a marble theatre for music festivals at the present

Foro Italico Foro Italico is a sports complex in Rome, Italy, on the slopes of Monte Mario. It was built between 1928 and 1938 as the Foro Mussolini (literally Mussolini's Forum) under the design of Enrico Del Debbio and, later, Luigi Moretti. Inspired by t ...

, mainly demolished in the 19th century to make way for a theatre box designed by

Carlo Giachery Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

and Domenico Lo Faso Pietrasanta, though other parts of Amato's building were re-used in the new construction. In 1698 he designed the marble Genio del Garraffo niche, again in Palermo, which began falling into poor condition in the second half of the 20th century. Amato's other important works include San Giuliano church in Palermo and the monastery to which it belonged. He designed it in the second half of the 17th century and it was demolished at the end of the 19th century to make way for the

Teatro Massimo The Teatro Massimo Vittorio Emanuele is an opera house and opera company located on the Piazza Verdi in Palermo, Sicily. It was dedicated to King Victor Emanuel II. It is the biggest in Italy, and one of the largest of Europe (at the time of its i ...

. He also designed the Baroque facade for the church of San Giovanni Battista in Ciminna, the chapel of Nostra Signora della Soledad in San Demetrio church in Palermo and the

funerary monuments of Giovan Battista Marassi, duke of Pietratagliata and Girolamo Marassi Drago, baron of Fontana Salsa in the Santissimo Crocifisso chapel in Santa Ninfa dei Crociferi church in Palermo.

Modelli and drawings

The Galleria regionale della Sicilia di «Palazzo Abatellis» in Palermo holds two drawings by him, both dating to the late 17th century and both collaborations with Antonio Grano. One is a design in black pencil, brown ink and watercolour in brown tones for a monstrance in a Quarantore set. The other is in brown ink with traces of black pencil, watercolour in shades of gray and amaranth on fine white paper, showing a design for a sacristy cupboard for a monastery. Designs also survive from his collaboration between

Andrea Palma Andrea Palma (b. Trapani, 1644 or 1664 – d. 1730) was an 18th-century Italian architect, working in the Baroque style. He is credited with being one of the most notable architects of the Sicilian Baroque movement. His works include the Cat ...

for stage machinery, sets and temporary architecture produced for the celebrations of the arrival and coronation of

Victor Amadeus II of Sardinia Victor Amadeus II (Vittorio Amedeo Francesco; 14 May 166631 October 1732) was Duke of Savoy from 1675 to 1730. He also held the titles of Prince of Piedmont, Duke of Montferrat, Marquis of Saluzzo and Count of Aosta, Moriana and Nice. Louis XIV ...

and

Anne Marie d'Orléans Anne Marie d'Orléans (27 August 1669 – 26 August 1728) was Queen of Sardinia by marriage to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy. She served as regent of Savoy during the absence of her spouse in 1686 and during the War of the Spanish Succession. ...

between 3 October and 24 December 1713. Gioacchino di Marzo, "''Diari della città di Palermo dal secolo 16 al secolo 19''

Volume VIII, Palermo, Luigi Pedone Laurel Editore, 1871, pages 139-140

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Amato, Paolo Italian Baroque architects 17th-century Italian architects 18th-century Italian architects 1634 births 1714 deaths People from Sicily