thought he should leave well accommodated by that arrangement. The edifice was commenced accordingly; a certain portion being regularly constructed every year.
The church of Santa Maria di Loreto in Lome, which is situate at the Macello de’ Corbi, near the Column of Trajan, was at this time in course of erection, and was finished by Antonio with decorations of the utmost beauty;[1] soon after the completion of this work, Messer Marchionne Baldassini caused a Palace to be erected near Sant’ Agostino, after the designs and under the direction of Antonio. This building is arranged in such a manner, that small as it is, it merits to be and is considered the most commodious and most judiciously arranged dwelling in Rome: the steps, the court, the loggie, the doors, the communications, all parts, in short, are distributed in the most admirable manner, and each separate portion is finished with the most perfect grace.[2] Messer Marchionne was highly satisfied with this result, and determined that the Florentine painter, Perino del Yaga, should adorn one of the Halls with paintings of historical representations and other figures, as will be further described in his life, and these decorations imparted infinite grace and beauty to that portion of the fabric. The House of the Centelli family, near the Torre di Nona, was likewise completed under the direction of Antonio; this also is small, but exceedingly commodious.
No long time elapsed after these things before the architect was sent to Gradoli, a place within the domain of the most reverend Cardinal Farnese, where he directed the building of a very handsome and commodious Palace for that Prelate; and in his way to Gradoli, he performed a very important service, the restoration, namely, of the Fortress of Capo di Monte, which he furthermore caused to be surrounded by a low wall of most judicious construction. He prepared, at the same time, the design for the Fortress of Capraruola; and Monsignore, the most reverend Cardinal
- ↑ “For the honour of this architect,” observes Bottari, “I must needs observe, that the completion of the Cupola of the Madonna of Loretto, the architecture of which is very singular and strange, is not by Antonio, but was designed by the Sicilian, Giacomo del Duca ”
- ↑ Milizia remarks that the pedestals of the columns which flank the portal are “immeasurably high.”
