MARCHESE

LUIGI

See also:

• MARCHESE LUIGI CAGNOLA (1762-1833)

CAGNOLA (1762-1833)  , Italian architect, was born on the 9th of June 1762 in Milan . He was sent at the age of fourteen to the Clementine College at Rome, and after-wards studied at the university of Pavia . He was intended for the legal profession, but his passion for architecture was too strong, and after holding some government posts at Milan, he entered as a competitor for the construction of the Porta Orientale . His designs were commended, but were not selected on account of the expense their adoption would have involved . From that time Cagnola devoted himself entirely to architecture . After the death of his father he spent two years in Verona and Venice, studying the architectural structures of these cities . In 1806 he was called upon to erect a triumphal arch for the marriage of Eugene Beauharnais with the princess of Bavaria . The arch was of wood, but was of such beauty that it was re-solved to carry it out in marble . The result was the magnificent Arco della Pace in Milan, surpassed in dimensions only by the Arc de 1'Etoile at Paris . Among other works executed by Cagnola are the Porta di Marengo at Milan, the campanile at Urgnano, and the chapel of Santa Marcellina in Milan . He died on the 14th of August 1833, five years before the completion of the Arco del Sempione, which he designed for his native city .