SANMICHELI, MICHELE. – Architect, son of Giovanni, a military architect, probably of Ticinese origin, born in Verona in 1484, died there in 1559.
In 1509 he was master builder at the Orvieto cathedral, assisting his uncle Bartolomeo; his works there include the main pinnacle of the façade, which blends Gothic motifs harmonizing with the rest of the building with Renaissance elements, and the altar of the Chapel of the Magi, with a classical layout. Also in Orvieto, he built the Petrucci Chapel in the church of S. Domenico, which, with its sobriety of lines, recalls works by G. da Sangallo.
At Montefiascone he erected the grand Cathedral, notable for the combination of two bell towers with an octagonal plan covered by a large dome and for its massive base structure, almost fortress-like.
Returning to his native city in 1523, he carried out an extremely fruitful architectural activity there: his first work was the Pellegrini Chapel in S. Bernardino, conceived as a freestanding building in the manner of Raphael, which – with its circular plan covered by a coffered dome and the use of architectural orders – shows a full adherence to classical forms and proportions, which he would maintain throughout his artistic production. For the church of S. Giorgio in Braida he built the dome on a tall drum with large arched windows and began the bell tower, left unfinished at the first level, which was to have three more levels above it, similar to the one he designed for the Cathedral (also interrupted at the lower part). In Venice he built the church and convent of S. Biagio alla Giudecca, demolished in the last century.
Back in Verona, he finally provided designs for the chapel of the Lazzaretto (1548) and for the church of the Madonna di Campagna, begun in the same year of his death and completed by others, with modifications to the original plan. In both these works, Sanmicheli demonstrates his preference for central plans and classical proportions.
His activity in civil architecture was also vast, mainly concentrated in Verona, where notable works include the Palazzi Pompei, Bevilacqua, and Canossa; also significant is the Palazzo Grimani in Venice, whose façades are dominated by architectural orders.
But Sanmicheli’s main fame rests on his works in military architecture, scattered not only in the Veneto but also in the eastern Mediterranean, where he carried out important fortification commissions for the Venetian Republic, introducing new concepts in this field. However, it is above all in Verona that he left his most famous works: Porta Palio and Porta Nuova, masterpieces of their kind. Indeed, one can affirm that Verona owes its Renaissance imprint in architecture chiefly to Sanmicheli.