Italian  Baroque  Architecture​

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By Dion Protani

Latest update: 20 October 2023

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As the Renaissance period drew to a close in Italy, it was replaced by a new artistic movement known as Baroque. The name of the style is quite descriptive in terms of its etymology: Baroque derives from a French word meaning "irregularly shaped" and this is the very essence of the artistic style that it gives its name to. 

From the end of the 16th century as the Renaissance briefly morphed into a style known as Mannerism, we started to see the first moves towards Italian Baroque architecture. The ​​​facade of the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome looks for the most part as if it belongs to the Renaissance period but it is widely-recognised as being the first Baroque facade with some significant twists brought into play. 

Noto Cathedral, Sicily

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Related links

Italian Architectural Styles

Culture

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Time period: 

1584 - 1750 AD

Preceded by: 

Italian Renaissance Architecture

Followed by: 

Italian Neoclassical Architecture

​Characteristics/innovations: 

Curves, irregular shapes, split pediments, sense of theatre

​​Famous buildings in Italy:

Syracuse Cathedral, ​​San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane

Related styles:

Lecce Baroque, Sicilian Baroque, Rococo (late Baroque)

Building types:

Churches, gardens, palaces, theatres

​Famous architects:

Gianlorenzo Bernini, Francesco Borromini, Filippo Juvarra

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The emergence of the Baroque period

Baroque art, architecture and music had its origins in the 16th century at a time when Western Europe was going through a period of tumult, entering around the Reformation and the teachings of Martin Luther. With the church under scrutiny like never before and large numbers of faithful questioning its motives, there were several reactions to the Reformation, one of which was the Counter Reformation. 

At the heart of this movement was a desire to re-establish the church as the voice of moral authority and various methods were used to enforce this. They included abhorrent heresy trials and inquisitions, with war, schism and international mistrust among the most negative results of the movement. There were though, some slightly more subtle methods used by the church to bring their message to the people. 

The origin of the word Baroque provides connotations of irregular or unidentifiable shape and was used specifically to describe pearls that weren't typically round yet were somehow beautiful nevertheless. The Baroque Pearl and its irregular form is at the heart of the architectural style. Having been widely-used in paintings and sculpture for a number of years, the Baroque movement began to seep into architecture at a time when the church were looking at ways to win back some of the followers they had lost to the Reformation. 

Baroque architecture thus became a tool by which the Catholic church could touch souls through the beauty of its buildings. Words such as theatrical, exuberant, dramatic and lavish are never far away when describing the style which was very much designed to take the breath away and fill the faithful with a sense of awe. With a timely loosening of some of the stricter, more dogmatic aspects of their religion, the church seized on the opportunity to in some ways move with the times and speak to the souls of its faithful in a more humane way. 

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Features, characteristics and innovations of Italian Baroque architecture 
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• Curves and irregular shapes introduced
• ​Frills
• Expensive, rich materials
• Increased use of stucco which can be moulded into shapes more cheaply than marble
  
• Greek and Roman classical elements
• Twisted columns
• Concave or convex shapes
• Split pediments
• Large decorative scrolls called volutes
• More of a three-dimensional appearance
• Playful/creative
• Curved portico
• Use of colour
• Greater expression of movement, less static. Changing the forms of regular shapes such as a circle into an ellipse

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Chiesa di San Giovanni Evangelista, Scicli

Chiesa di San Carlino alle Quattro Fontane, Rome

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Index of famous Italian Baroque buildings followed by mixed categories where the Baroque features in conjunction with other styles.

​Baroque

Basilica di Santa Croce Lecce
Basilica di Santa Maria della Salute
​​Bernini's Baldacchino at the Basilica di San Pietro
Bressanone Cathedral
Caltanissetta Cathedral
Castello del Valentino
Castello della Mandria
Castello di Agliè
Castello di Govone
Certosa di Calci
Certosa di Padula
Certosa di San Martino
​Chiesa di San Lorenzo - Turin
Chiesa di Sant'Agnese in Agone
​Chiesa di Sant'Andrea al Quirinale
Chiesa di Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza
Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi
Palazzo Carignano
Palazzo Madama (Turin)
​Piazza San Pietro
Pinacoteca Ambrosiana
Racconigi Castle
Reggia di Venaria Reale
Royal Palace of Turin
​San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (Borromini)
Santuario della Consolata
Syracuse Cathedral
Trevi Fountain

​Ancient Roman-Baroque-Romanesque

​Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore

Baroque-Gothic

Santuario di San Francesco di Paola

Baroque-Gothic-Renaissance

Naples Cathedral

Baroque-Neoclassical

Archbasilica of Saint John Lateran
Royal Palace of Capodimonte
Royal Palace of Caserta
Royal Palace of Naples

Baroque-Neoclassical-Renaissance

Basilica di Superga

Baroque-Renaissance

Buonconsiglio Castle
​​​Chiesa del Gesù Rome (first ever Baroque facade)
​​Chiesa di San Maurizio Maggiore al Monastero
Doria Pamphili Gallery
Saint Peter's Basilica
Turin Cathedral

Baroque-Romanesque

Pistoia Cathedral

Lecce Baroque - uses local sandstone

Lecce Cathedral
Lecce Cathedral Bell Tower

Multiple Styles including Baroque

Amalfi Cathedral
Palermo Cathedral

Rococo (aka Late Baroque)

Trevi Fountain

Sicilian Baroque

Noto Cathedral

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Architects

Carlo Maderno (most significant Mannerist architect)
Filippo Juvarra
Luigi Vanvitelli (late Baroque to Neoclassicism)
Pietro da Cortona
Cosimo Fanzago
​Fernando Sanfelice
​Guarino Guarini

Contemporary Rivals:

​Gianlorenzo Bernini - leaned towards classic elements combing sculpture with architecture
Francesco Borromini - more innovative, inventive, undulating, curvature

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Rococo Characteristics

​​Sensual - references to sex, enjoyment of life, pain

Abstract, asymmetrical ​shapes

​Name comes from French word rocaille which signifies shell-shaped artwork that covered the interiors of caves

Rococo used shells, leaves and other natural shapes

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