An architect in context – Francesco Buonamici [Book Review : Francesco Buonamici: painter, architect and military engineer in seventeenth century Malta and Italy]

Abstract

When, in September 1635, the famous Italian military engineer Pietro Paolo Floriani arrived in Malta to undertake and implement his plans for the extension of fortification works outside the city of Valletta, he had with him as his assistant Francesco Buonamici, an architect and painter from Lucca who was then in his late thirties. The Floriani mission, which commenced at the request of Grand Master Antoine de Paule, enjoyed the protection of Cardinal Francesco Barberini, the powerful nephew of Pope Urban VIII. Cardinal Barberini had rallied experts who were close to him and instructed the Papal Legate and Inquisitor in Malta, Mgr Fabio Chigi, to extend his protection directly over them while they were on the island.