BEVIGNATE (Bevegnate). – Benedictine, architect, born in Perugia around 1240, died perhaps in his nineties. In 1277 he is recorded together with Nicola and Giovanni Pisano, sculptors, and Boninsegna, hydraulic engineer, in the inscription of the Perugia fountain, of which he is described as the builder (stuctor).
Around 1290 he was at Orvieto for the construction of the Cathedral, and was still working there in 1295 as operarius and in 1300 as chief master. In 1305 he was at Perugia in charge of the municipal buildings. Among the architects of the 13th century, Bevignate’s figure stands out clearly thanks to documentary evidence and the precise judgment that can be formed of him on the basis of his works. The balanced mass relationships of the Perugia fountain, the daring structures of the Orvieto Cathedral, to whose construction he certainly contributed even if he did not design the building, and finally the elegant forms of the church of S. Francesco in Gubbio, which can be assigned to him with almost absolute certainty, place Bevignate among the greatest architects of his time. He interpreted the new Gothic forms with a free spirit, harmonizing and grafting them onto the solid stock of the most authentic local Romanesque tradition.