SALVI, NICOLA

A characteristic exponent of the Roman architectural current of the first half of the 18th century, marked by the ability to re-elaborate the forms of the ancient classical tradition—which had also been widely drawn upon by Bernini—with a vividly Baroque scenographic and pictorial taste. This is clearly demonstrated by the façade of the Trevi Fountain, his masterpiece and of Roman 18th-century architecture, begun in 1732 and whose design recalls a Roman triumphal arch. Among other works by S. are, besides various projects for festive decorations and fireworks, as well as for unexecuted constructions, the arrangement of the Ruffo chapel in S. Lorenzo in Damaso in Rome; the reconstruction of S. Maria in Gradi in Viterbo; collaboration with Vanvitelli on the enlargement of the Palazzo Odescalchi also in Rome, to which he also contributed some parts of the Palazzo del Monte di Pietà near the Trinità dei Pellegrini; and other undertakings of lesser importance.