Italian architecture

Several of the finest works in Western architecture, such as the Colosseum, the Duomo of Milan, the Mole Antonelliana in Turin, Florence cathedral and the building designs of Venice are found in Italy.

Italy has an estimated total of 100,000 monuments of all varieties (museums, palaces, buildings, statues, churches, art galleries, villas, fountains, historic houses and archaeological remains).

The Etruscans built temples, fora, public streets, aqueducts and city gates which had a significant influence on Roman architecture.

The Romans, similarly, were indebted to their Etruscan neighbours who supplied them with a wealth of knowledge essential for future architectural solutions such as hydraulics and in the construction of arches.

Social elements such as wealth and high population densities in cities forced the ancient Romans to discover new (architectural) solutions of their own.

The use of vaults and arches, together with a sound knowledge of building materials, enabled them to achieve unprecedented successes in the construction of imposing structures for public use.

The first basilicas we know are divided into two separate churches, one for the baptized, being the sacrament of baptism at that time granted only upon completion of a process of conversion and spiritual purification, and the other for catechumens.

The Basilica di Santa Tecla (45°27′50″N 45°27′50″E / 45.46389°N 45.46389°E / 45.46389; 45.46389), whose ruins can be visited under the Milan Cathedral, has apse of traditional type, reminiscent of those of the churches annexed to great civic buildings.

When the Western Roman Empire fell in 476 AD, the Byzantines were the leaders in the world regarding aspects of culture, arts, music, literature, fashion, science, technology, business and architecture.

[7] Since the Byzantines resided in Sicily for some time, their architectural influence can still be seen today, for example in the Cathedral of Cefalu, Palermo, or Monreale, with their richly decorated churches.

This was one of the most fruitful and creative periods in Italian architecture, when several masterpieces such as the Leaning Tower of Pisa in Piazza dei Miracoli and the Basilica of Sant'Ambrogio in Milan were built.

Romanesque architecture in Italy halted the construction of wooden roofs in churches, and also experimented with the usage of the groined vault or barrels.

They used to simply consist of marble or stone, and had little decoration, unlike the rich mosaics found in Italian Byzantine architectural works.

In particular, the bold architectural solutions and technical innovations of the French Gothic never appeared: Italian architects preferred to keep the construction tradition established in the previous centuries.

It is in Florence that the new architectural style had its beginning, not slowly evolving in the way that Gothic grew out of Romanesque, but consciously brought to being by particular architects who sought to revive the order of a past "Golden Age".

Apart from the Cathedral of Milan, largely the work of German builders, few Italian churches show the emphasis on verticality, the clustered shafts, ornate tracery and complex ribbed vaulting that characterise Gothic in other parts of Europe.

The Cathedral, built by Arnolfo di Cambio, was left unfinished by the end of the 14th century; it had a huge hole at the centre, where the dome was meant to be.

[17] Featuring a highly articulated plant based upon a Saint Andrew's Cross, it was designed by Filippo Juvarra, who also built the Basilica di Superga, near Turin.

In the same period in Veneto there was a rapprochement with Palladian architecture, evident in Villa Pisani at Stra (1721) and San Simeone Piccolo church in Venice (completed in 1738).

In Rome, some of the most significant achievements are the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain, while the façade of San Giovanni in Laterano by Alessandro Galilei has more austere, classical traits.

The gigantic size of the palace is echoed by the Ospedale L'Albergo Reale dei Poveri in Naples, built in the same years by Ferdinando Fuga.

Before the discoveries of the lost cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, buildings were themed on Ancient Rome and Classical Athens, but were later inspired by these archaeological sites.

[19] Examples of Neoclassical architecture in Italy include Luigi Cagnola's Arco della Pace (Milan),[19] the San Carlo Theatre (Naples, 1810),[20] San Francesco di Paola (Naples, 1817), Pedrocchi Café (Padua, 1816), Tempio Canoviano, (Posagno, 1819), Teatro Carlo Felice (Genoa, 1827), and the Cisternone (Livorno, 1829).

After the dissolution of the group, it was adopted by single artists like Giuseppe Terragni (Casa del Fascio, Como), Adalberto Libera (Villa Malaparte in Capri) and Giovanni Michelucci (Firenze Santa Maria Novella railway station).

It was promoted and practiced initially by the Gruppo 7 group, whose architects included Luigi Figini, Guido Frette, Sebastiano Larco, Gino Pollini, Carlo Enrico Rava, Giuseppe Terragni, Ubaldo Castagnola and Adalberto Libera.

Some of the main architects working in Italy between the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st are Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas and Gae Aulenti.

Among Fuksas' projects (As of January 2011[update]) are Piedmont Region Headquarters and Roma Convention Center - La Nuvola at EUR, Rome.