the Fontana dell'Acqua Paola, or the Fontana di Termini planned along the same lines. This predilection for arcades as essential features of an architectural scheme was brought out in the fountains designed by Domenico and his brother Giovanni, e.g. 1586), where he introduced into the loggia of the north facade an imposing double arcade of wide span and ample sweep, and probably added the two-story portico the Scala Santa.
Of more importance were the alterations he made in Basilica di San Giovanni in Laterano (c. Peter's and proposed the prolongation of the interior in a well-defined nave. Fontana added the lantern to the dome of St. Peter's, bestowing upon him, among other distinctions, the title of Knight of the Golden Spur. After the cardinal's accession as Sixtus V, he appointed Fontana Architect Of St. įor the same patron, he constructed the Palazzo Montalto near Santa Maria Maggiore, with its skillful distribution of masses and tied decorative scheme of reliefs and festoons, impressive because of the dexterity with which the artist adapted the plan to the site at his disposal. It is crowned by a dome in the early style of S. It is a marvellously well-balanced structure, notwithstanding the profusion of detail and overloading of rich ornamentation, which in no way interferes with the main architectural scheme. Montalto later entrusted him in 1584 with the erection of the Cappella del Presepio (Chapel of the Manger) in Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore, a powerful domical building over a Greek cross. He began his career as a plasterer, and then as a mason and master builder, with particular expertise in measuring and technical skills.įontana’s first architectural project was a villa in the Piazza Pasquino for Cardinal Montalto, constructed between 1577-78. He went to Rome in 1563, to join his elder brother. He was born at Melide, a village on the Lake Lugano, at that time joint possession of some Swiss cantons of the old Swiss Confederacy, and presently part of Ticino, Switzerland, and died at Naples. He worked primarily in Italy, at Rome and Naples. Domenico Fontana (1543 – 28 June 1607) was an Italian architect of the late Renaissance, born in today's Ticino.
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