FONTANA, Domenico (Fontana Domenico)

(1543-1607)
Born in 1543 in the town Melidi on Lake Lugano. He studied in Rome, enjoyed the patronage of Cardinal Montalto (Felice Peretti), commissioned by the villa and built a chapel in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. When Cardinal Montalto in 1585 became Pope Sixtus V, he appointed chief architect Fontana papal curia. Taking this position, Fontana created a draft restructuring Quirinal and the Lateran palace, and built several buildings that are now in the Vatican, in particular the building of the Vatican Library. Along with Giacomo della Porta, he completed construction of the dome of the cathedral of St. Peter, in accordance with drawings and models of Michelangelo. Fontana supervised the installation of the Egyptian obelisk in the square before the cathedral of St. Peter (1586). Together with his brother, an engineer Giovanni Fontana, he designed and built the Aqua Felice aqueduct. After the death of Sixtus V lived in Naples, where he developed projects of reconstruction of the harbor and the construction of the royal palace. Fontana died in Naples in 1607.