Background
Domenico Fontana was born in Melide, Switzerland in 1543.
Domenico Fontana was born in Melide, Switzerland in 1543.
Domenico Fontana studied at Rome and achieved the patronage of Cardinal Montalto (Felice Peretti), for whom he designed the Villa Negroni and a chapel in the Church of Santa Maria Maggiore.
When Montalto became Pope Sixtus V in 1585 Domenico Fontana appointed Fontana papal architect.
And in this capacity Fontana designed portions of the Vatican, the Quirinal, and the Lateran palace.
In 1585–6 he made his name by re-erecting the huge Egyptian red-granite obelisk from the Circus Gai et Neronis (but originally in Alexandria), in the centre of the piazza in front of St Peter's basilica, and also re-erected the ancient obelisks at Santa Maria Maggiore (1587), San Giovanni in Laterano (1587–8), and Piazza del Pòpolo (1589).
Thereafter he built the Lateran Palace (1585–9), the Vatican Library (1587–90), and supervised the erection of the dome of St Peter's under della Porta (1588–90).
The Vatican Library, particularly, is attributed to him.
In collaboration with Giacomo della Porta, also a noted architect of that time, he completed the dome of St. Peter's Basilica, following the drawings and model of Michelangelo.