Luigi Canina

Villa Borghese: monumental entrance from Piazzale Flaminio

Luigi Canina (Casale Monferrato, 1795 – Florence, 1856) was an Italian archaeologist and architect.

Luigi Canina, an Italian architect and archaeologist, was born in Casale Monferrato in 1795 and died in Florence in 1856. He was a pupil of Ferdinando Bonsignore in Turin, and settled in Rome in 1818. Among his works are: some construction at the Villa Borghese (monumental neoclassical propylaea from Piazzale Flaminio); Casino Vagnuzzi outside of Porta del Popolo in Egyptian style; not realized projects for reconstruction of the sanctuary of Oropa (1856). He became professor of architecture at Turin, and his most important works were the excavation of Tusculum in 1829 and of the Appian Way in 1848, the results of which he embodied in a number of works published in a costly form by his patroness, the queen of Sardinia. In 1843, he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Honorary member.

A wall of fragments assembled by Canina on the Appian Way next to the Casal Rotondo

Canina is also noted for his studies of history and archaeology: Ancient architecture described and represented in documents (1830–44). A column opposite the basilica of Saint Sebastian on the Appian Way close to Rome records Canina's work in rescuing many Roman ruins and turning the road into the archaeological park that it is today.

In England, he restored interiors at Alnwick Castle, Northumberland.

Partial Anthology

1. Luigi, Canina (1841). L'architettura antica descritta e dimostrata coi monumenti, Volume 6, Sezione II, Architettura Greca, Parte Terza. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
2. Luigi, Canina (1841). L'architettura antica descritta e dimostrata coi monumenti, Sezione I, Architettura Egiziani. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
3. Luigi, Canina (1841). L'architettura antica descritta e dimostrata coi monumenti, Volume 1. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
4. Luigi, Canina (1850). Indicazione topografica di Roma antica in corrispondenza dell ´epoca imperiale, 4th edition. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
5. Luigi, Canina (1845). Ricerche sull architettura piu propria dei tempi cristiani e applicazione della medesima ad una idea di sostituzione della chiesa Cattedrale di San Giovanni in Torino. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
6. Luigi, Canina (1845). Esposizione storica e topografica del Foro romano e sue adiacenze, 2nd edition. Tipi dello stesso Canina.
7. Luigi, Canina (1834). L'architettura Romana descritta e dimostrata coi monumenti, Part I. Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.
8. Luigi, Canina (1838). Descrizione di Cere antica ed in particolare del monumento sepolcrale nell'anno 1836 da S.E. il Sig. Generale Vicenzo Galassi.... Rome: Tipi dello stesso Canina.

References

• This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Canina, Luigi". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
• Sistri, Augusto, ed. Luigi Canina, 1795–1856: Architetto e Teorico del Classicismo. Milan, 1995.
• Alnwick Castle