FRA' GIOGONDO, O.F.M. — Giovanni da Verona, a Dominican known as Fra' G., architect, was born in Verona around 1433 and died in Rome on 1 July 1515. A prominent figure in the Renaissance of northern Italy, he shone in architectural studies, establishing himself as a theorist and designer of great merit.
Ancient written testimonies tend to restrict his activity as a designer, attributing the Loggia del Consiglio in Verona to Daniele Bandi, the Fondaco dei Tedeschi in Venice to Girolamo Tedesco, and the Pont Notre-Dame over the Seine to two little-known French master builders. This does not diminish G.'s renown, which rests on other works, such as the Palazzo di Poggio Reale in Naples, built during his stay in that city (1489–95), and the Château de Gaillon (built in the early 16th century when Fra' G. was in France). Other works include: the military constructions with radial bastions designed to defend Padua and Treviso from the attacks of Massimiliano Sforza of Milan; the hydraulic works carried out in the same period (1560–1590) around the Brentella; the design—later modified and executed by Scarpagnino—of the Rialto quarter; and the 126 illustrations he added, during his Neapolitan sojourn, to the architectural treatise of Francesco di Giorgio.
In 1514, Leo X summoned the architect to Rome to continue, after Bramante's death, the construction of St Peter's alongside Raphael (in Fra' G.'s design, the basilica assumed the form of a Latin cross).
Yet his image as a Renaissance man is represented, not only by the major works cited above—through which he is hailed as the “father of Venetian architecture” (G. Fiocco)—but also by his humanistic and epigraphic studies.