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Giacomo da Vignola
Italian architect
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Also known as: Giacomo Barozio, Giacomo Barozzi
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Article History (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-da-Vignola/additional-info#history)
Table of Contents
Giacomo da Vignola (born Oct. 1, 1507, Vignola, Bologna (https://www.britannica.com/place/Bologna-
Italy) [Italy]—died July 7, 1573, Rome) architect who, with Andrea Palladio
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Andrea-Palladio) and Giulio Romano
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giulio-Romano),
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giulio-Romano) dominated Italian Mannerist architectural
design and stylistically anticipated the Baroque.
Giacomo (https://cdn.britannica.com/16/8816-050-23B401B6/Palazzo-Farnese-Caprarola-Italy-
Giacomo-da-Vignola.jpg) da Vignola
See all media (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-da-Vignola/images-videos)
Category: Arts & Culture (https://www.britannica.com/Arts-Culture)
Also called: Giacomo Barozzi or Giacomo Barozio Born: Oct. 1, 1507, Vignola, Bologna
(https://www.britannica.com/place/Bologna-Italy) [Italy] Died: July 7, 1573, Rome
(https://www.britannica.com/place/Rome) (aged 65) Movement / Style: Mannerism
(https://www.britannica.com/art/Mannerism) Subjects Of Study: architecture
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture)
See all related content → (https://www.britannica.com/facts/Giacomo-da-Vignola)
After studying in Bologna, Vignola went to Rome (https://www.britannica.com/place/Rome) in the
1530s and made drawings of the antiquities for a projected edition of Vitruvius’
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Vitruvius) treatise
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/treatise) on architecture
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture). (https://www.britannica.com/topic/architecture) In
1541–43 he spent 18 months at the court of Francis I (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Francis-I-
king-of-France) at Fontainebleau (https://www.britannica.com/place/Fontainebleau) and in Paris, where
he probably met his fellow Bolognese, the architect Sebastiano Serlio
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sebastiano-Serlio) and the painter Primaticcio. On his return to
Italy (https://www.britannica.com/place/Italy) he built the Palazzo Bocchi at Bologna and then went to
Rome (c. 1550), where he was appointed architect to Pope Julius III
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-III), (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Julius-III)
for whom he built the Villa Giulia in collaboration with Giorgio Vasari
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giorgio-Vasari) and Bartolommeo Ammannati
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bartolommeo-Ammannati),
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Bartolommeo-Ammannati) in 1551–55. This was a summer
villa, based on ancient villa types as described by Pliny the Younger
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Younger),
(https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pliny-the-Younger) with a small house and an elaborate
garden.
Britannica Quiz
Artists, Painters, & Architects
(https://www.britannica.com/quiz/artists-painters-architects)
In 1554 he built the church (https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-architecture) of S. Andrea in the
nearby Via Flaminia, the first church to have an oval dome
(https://www.britannica.com/technology/dome-architecture),
(https://www.britannica.com/technology/dome-architecture) although the ground plan is rectangular.
In his church of Sta. Anna dei Palafrenieri (begun c. 1572), Vignola extended this idea to include an oval
in the ground plan, and this oval theme became a favourite of 17th-century Baroque architects.
Vignola’s most important church was, however, Il Gesù (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Gesu) in
Rome, headquarters of the Society of Jesus (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jesuits),
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Jesuits) which he began in 1568. Vignola died before the structure
was completed, but the basic plan is his: aisles subsumed in side chapels so as to produce an illusion
(https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/illusion) of vast interior space. The broad nave thus
created was an effective instrument for dramatizing the Mass, and as such was widely copied
throughout Europe in the service of the Counter-Reformation.
After the death of his patron Julius III in 1555, Vignola worked mainly for the Farnese family
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Farnese-family), (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Farnese-family)
for whom he completed the huge Palazzo Farnese (https://www.britannica.com/topic/Palazzo-Farnese-
building-Rome-Italy) at Caprarola, near Viterbo, the plan of which had been established earlier by
Antonio da Sangallo and Baldassarre Peruzzi (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baldassarre-
Peruzzi). (https://www.britannica.com/biography/Baldassarre-Peruzzi)
The academic tendency of Vignola’s mind is epitomized in his Regola delli cinque ordini d’architettura
(https://www.britannica.com/topic/Regola-delli-cinque-ordini-darchitettura) of 1562, which remained a
standard textbook on the architectural orders for three centuries. He also wrote on perspective in Le
due regole della prospettiva pratica, which was published posthumously (1583) and had a short life.
