AMICO, BERNARDINO (BERNARDINO DA GALLIPOLI)

**AMICO, BERNARDINO (BERNARDINO DA GALLIPOLI)**

- Franciscan friar of the Observant branch, born in Gallipoli in the Kingdom of Naples (his birth and death dates are unknown). In 1596 he served as commissioner of the Holy Land, possibly in the absence of Fr. Evangelista da Gabbiano, who, elected that year as Custodian of the Holy Land and guardian of Mount Sion, fell ill in Zante and only arrived in Jerusalem in June 1597. A skilled architect, while residing in Cairo as chaplain to the Venetians, in 1597 he was entrusted by Fr. Evangelista da Gabbiano with restoring the dilapidated church of Matarea (Matarije).

Having spent about five years in Palestine, as he attests in the "Dedication" of the second edition, he sketched and described the existing shrines. Upon returning to Italy, he published his work under the title: *Trattato delle Piante e Immagini de' Sacri Edifizi di Terra Santa disegnate a Jerusalemme secondo le regole della prospettiva et vera misura della lor grandezza*, large folio (Antonio Tempesta, Rome 1609). He later issued a second, smaller edition, "with the addition of the Via Dolorosa and other figures," dedicating it to Cosimo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany (Pietro Cecconcelli alle Stelle Medicee, Florence 1620); this edition is highly esteemed for its copperplate engravings by Jacques Callot.

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BIBL.:** Mazzuchelli, I, p. 625; R. Röhrich, *Bibliotheca geographica Palaestinae*, Berlin 1890, pp. 177, 219, 366, 433; G. Golubovich, *Serie cronologica dei Superiori di Terra Santa*, Jerusalem 1898, p. 64, n. 112; L. Wadding, *Scriptores Ordinis Minorum*, ed. novissima, Rome 1906, p. 40 and Supplementum by Sbaraglia, ibid. 1908, p. 131; R., s. V. in Thiemebacher, I, p. 405; P. Coco, *I Francescani nel Salento*, II, Taranto 1928, p. 550; Pietro Verniero di Montepuloso, *Cronache vetera Annali di Terra Santa*, published with notes and clarifications by Fr. Girolamo Golubovich, I, Quaracchi 1929, p. 243. Ignico Cecchetti.