For the millions who travel to Italy to see the art and architecture of the sixteenth century - places that captured Rowe's heart and challenged his fertile mind - this book will be a pleasurable read as much as it is a pinnacle of critical scholarship.".

This collection of an important architectural theorist's essays considers and compares designs by Palladio and Le Corbusier, discusses mannerism and modern architecture, architectural vocabulary in the 19th century, the architecture of Chicago, neoclassicism and modern architecture, and the architecture of utopia.

The years from 1520 to 1630 were crucial in the development of Western architecture, but to label as Mannerist the transition from Michelangelo's "licentious" New Sacristy in Florence to Borromini's innovative S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane is coming to seem unduly simplistic. In this carefully researched and original study, Andrew Hopkins examines the century's changing functional demands, the political forces, the patronage system, and local traditions. Exploring a wide range of Italian buildings (including those outside the major urban centers), he introduces us to dozens of neglected architects whose works will come as a revelation. By 1630, architecture had taken on a new dynamism that would soon conquer Italy, Europe, and the New World: the baroque. 209 b/w illustrations.

"Well-illustrated, undeniably useful, Murray's book is truly welcome." --Architectural Design "Informed in content and concise in style . . . a perfect introduction to the architecture of the Italian Renaissance." --Richard Stapleford, Cooper Union School of Architecture A classic guide to one of the most pivotal periods in art and architectural history, The Architecture of the Italian Renaissance remains the most lucid and comprehensive volume available. From Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Palladio, and Brunelleschi to St. Peter's in Rome, the palaces of Venice, and the Medici Chapel in Florence, Peter Murray's lavishly illustrated book tells readers everything they need to know about the architectural life of Italy from the thirteenth through the sixteenth centuries.

Providing a comprehensive account of one of the most formative historical periods, this book uniquely describes Renaissance architecture as the physical manifestation of economic, social and political change. Shifts in architectural style and design are described in parallel with Italy’s economic and demographic growth, external and internal conflict and the evolution of urban and regional government. Urban Development in Renaissance Italy covers the full extent of the Renaissance period, charting the era’s medieval roots and its transformation into Mannerist and Baroque tendencies. Encompassing Palermo and Naples, the book fully covers northern, central and southern Italy, surpassing the conventional literature that tends to focus solely on northern Italy. Transforming medieval towns into city states, Renaissance governments invested heavily in developing the built environment to create a sense of awe and civic pride; while aristocratic dynasties, bankers and merchants commissioned sumptuous properties as a means of expressing their wealth and position in society; and holy orders built imposing churches to extend their influence. Architecture and planning, it is argued by Dr Paul Balchin provided a clear and significant path to political and economic power. It is within this context that the centre of political and economic gravity shifted over time within Italy from the republic of Venice in the 14th century to Medici Florence in the 15th century, and on to Papal Rome in the 16th and early 17th centuries.

"There may not be any book on architecture so delightful to dip into; one wishes there were a pocket edition to take on an Italian vacation—not only for its information and vision but for such pleasant reminders as that the citizens of Treviso carried Tullio Lombardo's friezes through the town in triumph before they were attached to a building."—D. J. R. Bruckner, New York Times Book Review

The development of Italian Renaissance architecture was one of the most relevant cultural phenomena of the 15th and 16th centuries, not only for the environment that gave birth to it and for centuries followed its course, but also for the reverberations it caused outside of Italy and in the epochs that followed. In fact, it became the reference model for most European courts, which were inspired as much by the decorative elements (take for example France's palace at Fontainebleau or Scotland's Stirling Castle) as by the architectonic system and stylistic conventions. This extraordinary flowering, theorized and implemented by people of absolute genius such as Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti (to limit ourselves to the most prominent figures), encompasses masterpieces such as the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence or that of Saint Peter's in Rome, as well as perfectly harmonious structures such as Maser's Villa Barbaro, Vicenza' Basilica and Venice's Biblioteca Marciana.This comprehensive compilation of Italian Renaissance architecture richly documented, illustrated and organized by type of construction, major architects and geographical location reveals and celebrates a unique artistic period that lasted for almost two centuries, from the early 1400s through the end of the 1500s, two points in time perfectly reflected in the figures of Brunelleschi and Buontalenti.

Influenced by a revival of interest in Greco-Roman ideals and sponsored by a newly prosperous merchant class, fifteenth-century artists produced works of astonishingly innovative content and technique. The International Gothic style of painting, still popular at the beginning of the century, was giving way to the influence of Early Netherlandish Flemish masters such as Jan van Eyck, who emphasized narrative and the complex use of light for symbolic meaning. Patrons favored paintings in oil and on wooden panels for works ranging from large, hinged altarpieces to small, increasingly lifelike portraits. In the Italian city-states of Florence, Venice, and Mantua, artists and architects alike perfected existing techniques and developed new ones. The painter Masaccio mastered linear perspective; the sculptor Donatello produced anatomically correct but idealized figures such as his bronze nude of David; and the brilliant architect and engineer Brunelleschi integrated Gothic and Renaissance elements to build the self-supporting dome of the Florence Cathedral. This beautifully illustrated guide analyzes the most important people, places, and concepts of this early Renaissance period, whose explosion of creativity was to spread throughout Europe in the sixteenth century