Examples of Italian Renaissance Architecture

Quattrocento Architecture, Florence
The Dome of the Duomo

Florence Cathedral (Santa Maria del Fiore / Duomo)

• Designed by Arnolfo di Cambio

• Dome completed later by Filippo Brunelleschi

• Gothic cathedral + Renaissance dome

• Octagonal plan; no flying buttresses

Quattrocento Architecture, Florence
Brunelleschi’s Dome

• Double-shell brick construction

• Herringbone brick pattern for stability

• Supported by interlocking rings of stone and wood

• Largest brick dome ever built

• Added exedras and lantern to reduce outward thrust

Quattrocento Architecture (Florence)
Ospedale degli Innocenti (Hospital of the Innocents)

• By Brunelleschi

• First Renaissance building in Florence

• Loggia with semicircular arches + Composite columns

• Grey pietra serena against white walls

• Modules used → each bay forms a cube

• Glazed blue tondi in spandrels (Andrea della Robbia)

Quattrocento Architecture (Florence)
Palazzo Medici Riccardi

• By Michelozzo di Bartolomeo

• Strong, fortress-like rusticated base

• String courses divide stories

• Piano nobile on second level

• Cortile inside

• Massive cornice crowns façade

• Kneeling windows by Michelangelo

Quattrocento Architecture (Florence)
Palazzo Rucellai

• By Leon Battista Alberti

• First façade to apply classical orders correctly:

  1. Tuscan (base)

  2. Ionic (middle)

  3. Corinthian (top)

• Pilasters + entablatures in perfect proportion

• Ground = business / 2nd = piano nobile / 3rd = bedrooms / hidden attic = servants

Tuscan

base

Ionic

middle

Corinthian

top

• Ground

• Business

• 2nd

• piano nobile

• 3rd

• bedrooms

• hidden attic

• servants

Cinquecento Architecture (Rome)

Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio

• By Donato Bramante

• Symbolic spot of St. Peter’s martyrdom

• Perfect centralized plan

• Tuscan order peristyle on stepped base

• Hemispherical dome over drum

• Contrasts of light/shadow with deep niches

Cinquecento Architecture (Rome)
Renovation of St. Peter’s Basilica

• Commission by Pope Julius II

• Bramante’s original: Greek cross plan + dome like Pantheon

• Many architects altered design over time (Raphael, Sangallo, Peruzzi, Michelangelo)

Cinquecento Architecture (Rome)
Michelangelo’s Dome of St. Peter’s

• Double-shell, like Brunelleschi’s concept

• Ovoid outer dome, hemispheric inner dome

• High drum with pedimented windows

• Tall lantern inspired by Tempietto

• Tallest dome in the world today

• Based on Bramante's designs

Cinquecento Architecture (Rome)

Renovation of the Piazza del Campidoglio

• Redesigned by Michelangelo

• Symbol of Rome as caput mundi (center of the world)

• Reflects both church + civic power

• Monumental public square with geometric harmony

Mannerist Architecture

• Reaction against High Renaissance classical perfection

• Features:

  • Visual trickery

  • Unusual proportions

  • Broken classical rules

  • Surprises and contradiction

Mannerist Architecture

Laurentian Library Vestibule

• By Michelangelo

• Bold, dramatic, sculptural interior

• Grey pietra serena on white walls

• Famous dynamic staircase:

  • Central convex steps

  • Side rectangular steps

  • Bottom elliptical steps

• Showcases Mannerist creativity

Mannerist Architecture

Palazzo del Té, Mantua

• By Giulio Romano

• Leisure villa with central court

• Classical-looking but full of intentional “errors”:

  • Misaligned pediments

  • Slipped triglyphs

  • Odd rhythms

• Playful, surprising, humorous architecture