Filippo Raguzzini

Filippo Raguzzini (19 July 1690 – 21 February 1771) was an Italian architect best known for a range of buildings constructed during the reign of Benedict XIII.

Once Benedict XIII was elected, Raguzzini moved to Rome and commenced a meteoric rise to the top of the papal architectural establishment.

The most significant projects executed in Rome by Raguzzini during Benedict's reign were the construction of the Ospedale di San Gallicano in Trastevere (1724 – 26), the erection of the church of Santa Maria della Quercia near the Palazzo Spada (1727 – 31) and the systematisation of Piazza Sant'Ignazio (1727 – 35).

The construction of San Maria della Quercia, the church of the butchers' guild (Università dei macellai) of Rome, appears to have been sponsored by Benedict XIII.

Piazza Sant'Ignazio, surrounded by an ensemble of five residential buildings for the growing administration class of the city, is characterised by its complex interplay of ovoid shapes and the ingenious theatre-wing like construction.

When Benedict his patron died in 1730, Raguzzini's fortunes took a turn for the worse, when the coterie of Beneventans brought to Rome by the pope were purged.