AMICO, BERNARDINO (BERNARDINO DA GALLIPOLI). — Franciscan of the Order of Friars Minor Observant, born at Gallipoli in the Kingdom of Naples (the years of his birth and death are unknown to us). In 1596 he was commissioner of the Holy Land, perhaps in the absence of Fr. Evangelista da Gabbiano, who, elected that year Custodian of the Holy Land and Guardian of Mount Zion, fell ill at Zante and reached Jerusalem only in June 1597. A skilled architect, while residing in Cairo as chaplain to the Venetians, in 1597 he was commissioned by Fr. Evangelista da Gabbiano to restore the dilapidated church of Matarea (Matarije).
Having remained in Palestine for about five years, as he himself attests (“Dedication” of the 2nd ed.), he surveyed and described the sanctuaries existing there. Returning to Italy, he published his work under the title: Treatise on the Plans and Images of the Sacred Buildings of the Holy Land, Drawn in Jerusalem According to the Rules of Perspective and the True Measurement of Their Size, large folio (Antonio Tempesta, Rome 1609). He prepared a second edition in a smaller format, “with the addition of the dolorous way and other figures,” dedicating it to Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Pietro Ceconcelli alle Stelle Medicee, Florence 1620); it is especially valuable for the copper engravings by Jacques Callot.