Famous Italian architects: the names that changed architecture, from the Renaissance to today
Walk through any Italian city and you cross six centuries of architecture in a single block. Behind a dome, a colonnade or a glass tower there is almost always a precise name, and often an idea that changed how people build far beyond Italy.
Famous Italian architects range from Brunelleschi, who invented the modern building site with the Florence Cathedral dome, to Renzo Piano, Pritzker Prize winner and author of museums and skyscrapers around the world. We have arranged them by period, with the work to see for each one.
At a glance
- Renaissance: Brunelleschi, Alberti, Bramante, Michelangelo and Palladio set the rules of modern classical architecture.
- Baroque: Bernini and Borromini transform Rome; Vanvitelli designs the Royal Palace of Caserta.
- 20th century: Nervi, Ponti, Scarpa, Aldo Rossi and Gae Aulenti, often architects and designers at once.
- Today: Renzo Piano, Massimiliano Fuksas and Stefano Boeri are the best-known Italian names worldwide.
- Two Italians have won the Pritzker Prize: Aldo Rossi in 1990 and Renzo Piano in 1998.
Renaissance: the architects who wrote the rules
Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446)
The dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence is his masterpiece and an unprecedented technical challenge: a huge dome built without traditional centring, thanks to a double shell and building machines he designed himself. Also worth seeing: the Ospedale degli Innocenti and the Basilica of San Lorenzo.
Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472)
A humanist before a builder, Alberti wrote De re aedificatoria, the first great modern treatise on architecture. His ideas can be read in the façade of Santa Maria Novella in Florence and in the Tempio Malatestiano in Rimini.
Donato Bramante (1444-1514)
The Tempietto of San Pietro in Montorio, in Rome, is a small circular building that sums up the Renaissance ideal of proportion. Bramante was also the first designer of the new St Peter’s Basilica.
Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564)
Sculptor and painter, Michelangelo was also a revolutionary architect: the Laurentian Library in Florence, Piazza del Campidoglio and the dome of St Peter’s in Rome bear his signature.
Andrea Palladio (1508-1580)
Perhaps the most imitated Italian architect in the world. His Venetian villas, starting with La Rotonda in Vicenza, and The Four Books of Architecture (1570) inspired buildings from England to the United States, to the point that we speak of a Palladian style.
Baroque: Rome as a stage
Gian Lorenzo Bernini (1598-1680)
The colonnade of St Peter’s Square is the world’s most famous embrace in stone. Bernini, a sculptor before an architect, also designed the small, theatrical church of Sant’Andrea al Quirinale.
Francesco Borromini (1599-1667)
Bernini’s rival bent geometry into curves: San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane and Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, in Rome, are still studied for their complex plans and domes.
Luigi Vanvitelli (1700-1773)
The Royal Palace of Caserta, with its spectacular park, is his best-known project and one of the great royal palaces of Europe.
20th century: architects and designers
In the 20th century many Italian architects also designed objects, which is why their names appear in architecture books and furniture catalogues alike.
Pier Luigi Nervi (1891-1979)
An engineer and builder, Nervi made reinforced concrete expressive: the Palazzetto dello Sport in Rome is a structure that becomes decoration.
Gio Ponti (1891-1979)
In Milan he designed the Pirelli Tower, whose structure Nervi also worked on; in design he created the Superleggera chair for Cassina, one of the lightest and most famous pieces of the century.
Carlo Scarpa (1906-1978)
A master of detail and materials, Scarpa left the Olivetti Showroom in St Mark’s Square, Venice, and, in Altivole, the Brion Tomb, considered one of his masterpieces.
Aldo Rossi (1931-1997)
The first Italian to win the Pritzker Prize, in 1990. His works include the extension of the San Cataldo Cemetery in Modena, the Monte Amiata complex in Milan’s Gallaratese district and the floating Teatro del Mondo built for the Venice Biennale.
Gae Aulenti (1927-2012)
Architect and designer, she turned the Gare d’Orsay in Paris into the Musée d’Orsay and designed objects that became classics, such as the Pipistrello lamp.
Ettore Sottsass (1917-2007)
Architect and designer, he created the Valentine typewriter for Olivetti and in the 1980s led the Memphis group, which changed the very idea of furniture.
Today: the most famous Italian architects in the world
Renzo Piano (1937)
Born in Genoa, Pritzker Prize winner in 1998, Renzo Piano designed the Centre Pompidou in Paris with Richard Rogers and, on his own, The Shard in London and the Parco della Musica Auditorium in Rome.
Massimiliano Fuksas (1944)
With Studio Fuksas he has built major public works in Europe and Asia. In Rome his best-known project is the EUR Convention Centre, known as the Nuvola (Cloud).
Stefano Boeri (1956)
Milan’s Bosco Verticale, two residential towers covered with trees and shrubs, completed in 2014, made his name an international reference for green architecture.
If you like rankings, read on with the richest architect in the world, or discover ten Italian interior designers you should know. The full list of Pritzker laureates is on the official prize website.
Frequently asked questions
Who is the most famous Italian architect?
Historically, Andrea Palladio and Filippo Brunelleschi are the most influential. Among contemporaries, Renzo Piano is the best known worldwide.
Which Italian architects have won the Pritzker Prize?
Aldo Rossi in 1990 and Renzo Piano in 1998.
Who designed the dome of Florence Cathedral?
Filippo Brunelleschi, who also directed its construction in the first half of the 15th century.
Which Italian architects were also designers?
Gio Ponti, Gae Aulenti, Ettore Sottsass, Carlo Scarpa and Aldo Rossi all designed furniture and objects, often for Italian furniture companies.
