At the same time, he made his mark as a draughtsman - designing Messina's festive settings for the coronation of Philip V of Spain and Sicily (1701) - and studied architecture independently, working from books alone, such as those by Vitruvius and Vignola.

A couple of early drawings by Juvarra, dated 1706, are associated with the San Bartolomeo Theater in Naples, though whether he actually completed the set designs for the theatre is unknown.

His other main patron in Rome was Marie Casimire d'Arquien, the widowed former Queen of Poland, for whom Juvarra produced set designs for the operas performed in her small domestic theatre in the Palazzo Zuccari.

In 1706 Juvarra won a contest for the new sacristy at the St. Peter's, organized by Pope Clement XI, and became a member of the prestigious Accademia di San Luca.

[6] He also designed and built the church of the Blessed Virgin of the Carmine (1732-1736), where the space is concentrated around the central hall with the scenographic effect of light falling from above.

Reputedly, the site was chosen because of a vow taken here by the then duke, and future king, Victor Amadeus II of Savoy, as he surveyed the field of operations while defending the city from the besieging French armies during the Battle of Turin.

The fame obtained in Piedmont led to demand for his talent and capacities at some of the richest noble and royal courts of Europe: in 1719 he was in Portugal, planning the palace at Mafra for King John V (1719–20), after which he travelled to London and Paris.

During his stay in Portugal he also made schemes for the creation of a monumental lighthouse in Lisbon at the mouth of the Tagus river with the Atlantic Ocean.

The massive oval central pavilion, topped by a bronze stag, fronted with large arched windows, and extending into angled wings, is the mixture of classicism and whimsy that describes the ornamented delights of Italian Rococo.

Juvarra fulfilled the needs of his patron for classical grandeur, but with the baroque urge to decorate, to construct buildings as if they were made with curling ribbons.

While the facade appears to house an airy piano nobile, it in fact is merely a scenic, almost theatrical gesture, sheltering a grandiose entry stairway entrance to a medieval castle.

But this work was also part of an ambitious program to recast the crowded, medieval layout of central Turin into a more open and planned set of connected plazas.

The Neapolitan Corrado Giaquinto was among the artists that Juvarra invited to help decorate palaces, such as the Villa della Regina in Turin.

While a wooden mockup was built of his plans for the Royal Palace, all his designs there were executed after his death by his pupils, including Giovanni Battista Sacchetti.