FONTANA, Domenico – The architect F. presents to Sixtus V the plan of the Vatican Library – Vatican Library.
FONTANA – The courtyard of the Palazzo Vecchio, work by Francesco del Tadda (1565); the point is by Verrocchio (1476), formerly in the villa of Carreggi – Florence.
FONTANA. – Name of numerous artists, especially architects, born or originating from Ticino, between the 16th and 18th centuries; the most notable are the following:
DOMENICO, b. at Meldé in 1543, d. at Naples in 1604, linked his name to the transformation of Rome desired by Sixtus V with the laying out of straight roads radiating from S. Maria Maggiore towards the other basilicas, and the connecting of these by other major streets; the vast conception, left unfinished by the death of the Pope, foreshadows modern urban planning criteria. In the obelisks raised at the end of the streets, the aesthetic function is united with the spiritual meaning, through the superimposition of the Cross on pagan symbols. In these works he also demonstrated great technical skill, and his transport of the Vatican obelisk remained famous, of which he left a description.
In his vast activity, in which is to be remembered also the turning of the dome of St. Peter’Porta (v.), the figure of the architect is associated with that of the entrepreneur (Villa Montalto, head of the Presepio in S. Maria Maggiore, Lateran Palace, Vatican Library).
FONTANA, Domenico – The architect F. presents to Sixtus V the plan of the Vatican Library – Vatican Library.
among which that of Bigazzini (later Torlonia), in Piazza Venezia (1676), demolished in 1900, and Grimani, now Titoni, in Via Rasella.
His most notable activity was that devoted to the construction of public buildings, under the pontificates of Innocent XII (Doganella di Terra) and Piazza di Pietra; Dogana di Mare; Ripa Grande; and the transformation into a seat of tribunals of the palace left unfinished by Cardinal Ludovisi at Montecitorio, which took the name of Curia Innocenziana), and of Clement XI (Ospizio di S. Michele and Biblioteca Casanatense). Of his activity outside Rome we recall the dome of the cathedral of Montefiascone, the Palazzo Durazzo (later Reale) of Genoa (1705), and some villas in the Sienese area; he also sent drawings for buildings abroad, including one for the cathedral of Fulda.
His ingenious projects for the urban layout of the Borghi and the area around Montecitorio remained unexecuted, but descriptions of them survive in his fundamental work on Il Tempio Vaticano and in the Discorso sopra l’Autore Monte Citorio.
FRANCESCO, son of the preceding, b. in Rome in 1668, collaborated with his father on the Dogana di Terra and on other minor works. His is the remodelling of the church of SS. Apostoli, left unfinished at his death in 1708.
GIORGALDO, son of a brother of Carlo, active from 1690 to 1714. His principal work is the façade of the cathedral of Frascati, where he also executed the large fountain in the piazza; he was an expert in hydraulics, as attested by the construction of the aqueduct of Anzio.
CARLO STEFANO, brother of the preceding, active in Rome between 1711 and 1728. He was a beneficed abbot of S. Giovanni in Laterano, where he executed the decoration of the transept. He is remembered for the façade and the renovation of the interior of S. Clemente.
PROSPERO, painter, b. in Bologna in 1512, d. there in 1597. He was a pupil of Innocenzo da Imola, and as a young man was in Genoa assisting Perin del Vaga in the decoration of Palazzo Doria. His activity took place almost exclusively in Bologna, where he painted for various churches (Magna, 1577