Adriano Cristofali was one of the most important Veronese architects of the 18th century and a bridge between Enlightenment

Age of Enlightenment

The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...

-Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture

Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...

 and Neoclassicism

Neoclassical architecture

Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...

.

Life

The son of a gardener to marchese Giambattista Spolverini, Cristofali studied under count Alessandro Pompei, the century's most important architectural theorist and learned his trade in the humanistic atmosphere fostered by marchese Scipione Maffei. Despite his humble parentage he then succeeded in setting up a varied architectural practice, working as architect, assessor, surveyor and hydraulic engineer and in training a whole generation of younger architects in his studio, including two of his sons and Luigi Trezza.

His works in Verona include the palazzo Tedeschi (now the hotel Accademia), the palazzo Balladoro (in front of palazzo Canossa) and the palazzo Salvi (HQ of the Accademia di Agricoltura Scienze e Lettere), as well as the portico for the teatro Filarmonico, completed by Ettore Fagiuoli the following century. Also notable are his plans for the villa Bettoni at Bogliaco near Gargnano

Gargnano

Gargnano is a town and comune in the province of Brescia, in Lombardy.The municipal territory includes the artificial Valvestino Lake, created in 1962....

, for the villa Bertani at Novare di Arbizzano, for the villa Canossa di Grezzano and for the villa Vecelli Cavriani di Mozzecane.

Sources

• http://villavecellicavriani.it/
• http://www.ketchup.it/regione/eventi/evento.asp?rg=ven®ione=veneto&prov=belluno&idev=536