Girolamo Rainaldi

Girolamo Rainaldi (born 1570, Rome, Papal States [Italy]—died 1655, Rome) was an Italian architect in the northern Italian Mannerist tradition, who became chief architect of Rome (in 1602) and of the papacy (1644).

Rainaldi’s most important church is the Carmelite church of San Silvestro at Caprarola, near Rome. Pope Sixtus V was his patron, and Rainaldi succeeded Giacomo della Porta as the city’s chief architect. Rainaldi designed the Pamphili Palace (c. 1650) in the Piazza Navona for Pope Innocent X and created the first design for Sant’Agnese in Agone (1652), also in the Piazza Navona, which was taken over by Francesco Borromini.

The Farnese family brought Rainaldi to Parma so that he could build their town palaces. He also did the vaulting of Santissima Annunziata, Parma. In Bologna Rainaldi built the Church of Santa Lucia (1623), which was modeled on the Gesù in Rome, and the vaulting of the nave of San Petronio, and in Modena he did considerable work (not executed) on plans for a portion of the Ducal Palace (1631–34).

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Artists, Painters, & Architects

Girolamo’s son, Carlo, became an important architect of the new Baroque era.