AZZURRI, FRANCESCO. - Architect, b. in Rome in 1827, d. there in 1901; president of the Accademia di S. Luca, in his principal works of civil architecture he reworked classical and traditional motifs, occupying a significant position in the architecture of the closing years of the century, when the neoclassical tradition was about to be interrupted. Among other things, he was responsible for the restoration of S. Maria in Monticelli and for the construction of the chapel of S. Lucia (1861) in the archconfraternity of the Gonfalone in Rome, the restoration of Palazzo Venezia and the Cancelleria, and the design of the gate of Palazzo Barberini. A. deserves credit for having built and enlarged many hospitals, according to criteria different from those employed until his day.
Maria Vittoria Brugnoli