GUARINI, GUARINO. — Theatine religious, architect, b. in Modena on 17 January 1624, d. in Milan on 6 March 1683. At a young age he became a Theatine Cleric Regular and, from 1639 to 1645, was in Rome at the Convent of S. Silvestro. Upon returning to Modena, in 1648 he was entrusted by his confrères with supervising the renovation works on the church of S. Vincenzo; in this first undertaking he collaborated with Fr. Bernardo Castagnini, who initiated him into the practice of construction. Elected provost of S. Vincenzo, following the firm opposition of the ducal court (which would have set Castagnini against him), he was forced to leave Modena. After staying in Guastalla and Parma, he moved to Messina, where, in 1660, he was entrusted with the construction of the churches of the Annunziata, S. Filippo, and the Somaschi, subsequently destroyed in the earthquake of 1908.
From Messina G. went to Paris, where he devoted himself to drafting his book Placita philosophica and where he was appointed professor of theology. In the French capital, in 1662, at the behest of the Theatines, he began rebuilding the church of Ste-Anne-la-Royale, with a Greek-cross plan and a drum-supported dome. He then went to Turin, where he devoted himself to publishing his works: Del modo di misurar le fabbriche (1674); Trattato di fortificazione (1676); Disegni di architettura civile ed ecclesiastica (1686). L'architettura civile, another work by G., was published after his death. Appointed engineer to the duke of Savoy, Carlo Emanuele II, in 1668, he was entrusted by him with constructing the chapel of the Holy Shroud (attached to Turin Cathedral), which he crowned with his characteristic dome. He also devoted himself to the construction of the Collegio dei nobili and, for the Theatines, completed the church of S. Lorenzo. In 1679, at the behest of Emanuele Filiberto, he began the façade of Palazzo Carignano, whose central body is curvilinear, and assumed direction of the works on the great church of S. Filippo, already begun by Bettini and subsequently largely remodeled by Iuvara. Finally, he designed alterations to Palazzo Madama, Palazzo Graneri, Palazzo Provana di Collegno, the high altar of the church of S. Niccolò in Verona, S. Gaetano in Nice, and S. Filippo in Casale.
His art stood in opposition to the French influences then dominant; he introduced Gothic and Hispano-Moorish elements, fusing them into a monumental, richly harmonious plastic whole.
1931, passim; M. Labò, s. V. in Enc. Ital., XVIII, pp. 26–27; C. Ceschi, Progetto del G. e del Vittone per la chiesa di S. Gaetano a Nizza, in Palladio, 5 (1941), pp. 171–77.