Between the 14th and 17th centuries, European builders looked back at ancient Greece and Rome and decided there was plenty left to learn. Domes, columns, symmetry, and careful proportion came back into fashion, and cities have been borrowing from them ever since. Here are fifteen architects who made it happen.
Florence: Where It All Began
1. Filippo Brunelleschi (1377-1446): Most stories begin with him. He cracked the puzzle of how to build the enormous dome of Florence Cathedral that many thought impossible. He also figured out the rules of linear perspective.
2. Leon Battista Alberti (1404-1472): Alberti was a philosopher first and an architect second. His book, de re aedificatoria, set the tone for the whole era, and his work at Santa Maria Novella and the Tempio Malatestiano put those ideas into stone.
3. Michelozzo di Bartolomeo (1396-1472) The architect of choice for the Medici family. His Palazzo Medici Riccardi was the model for opulent Florentine townhomes.
4. Giuliano da Sangallo (c. 1445-1516): He designed the Medici villa at Poggio a Caiano, an early effort to bring the classical country house back to life.
Rome at Its Peak
5. Donato Bramante (1444-1514): His small round Tempietto is admired for its balance and proportions. He also drew up the first plans for the new St. Peter’s Basilica.
6. Raphael (1483-1520): Most people know him for his paintings, but he also took over as architect of St. Peter’s and designed several Roman palaces and chapels.
7. Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564): He reworked the dome of St. Peter’s and laid out the Piazza del Campidoglio. Architecture was only one of his talents.
8. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger (1484-1546): He worked on St. Peter’s too, but he is best remembered for the Palazzo Farnese, one of Rome’s grandest palaces.
9. Giulio Romano (c. 1499-1546): A student of Raphael who enjoyed breaking the rules. His Palazzo del Te in Mantua is a playful, slightly odd building that helped launch Mannerism.
The Late Renaissance
10. Andrea Palladio (1508-1580): Arguably the most influential of the lot. His villas and churches around Venice, and his Four Books of Architecture, shaped building styles in Europe and America. Thomas Jefferson was a devoted fan.
11. Jacopo Sansovino (1486-1570): He gave Venice’s civic heart its look, designing the Biblioteca Marciana and the Loggetta near St. Mark’s Square.
12. Giacomo da Vignola (1507-1573): His Church of the Gesù became the pattern for countless Baroque churches. His guide to the five classical orders stayed in use for centuries.
13. Sebastiano Serlio (1475-1554): He built little but wrote a lot. His illustrated books carried Renaissance ideas to France and beyond.
Beyond Italy
14. Pierre Lescot (c. 1515-1578): He designed the western wing of the Louvre’s Cour Carrée, mixing Italian classicism with French tastes.
15. Inigo Jones (1573-1652): He brought Palladian design to England with the Queen’s House in Greenwich and the Banqueting House in Whitehall.
Why They Still Matter
You can see their influence almost anywhere. Town halls, libraries, universities, and even suburban homes still use porticoes, domes, and balanced facades that trace back to these men. Their buildings also remain among the most visited in the world, and their books still turn up on architecture reading lists.
What makes them worth studying is how they worked. They moved between art, math, and engineering without much concern for boundaries, and the results have lasted for five hundred years.
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