Antonio di Vincenzo

Antonio di Vincenzo (c.1350-1401) was definitely the man in the right place at the right time. Whether he was the right man is open to debate. Little of Antonio's early career is known, but in the 1380s and 90's, when Bologna commenced its massive building programme around the Piazza Maggiore, he seems to have been in charge of nearly everything.

Antonio is of course best known for the colossal, ungainly San Petronio. Beforehand, he visited Milan to see the great cathedral under construction there, and made some of the first practical architectural drawings of it to serve as a guide. Upon returning to Bologna he created a 15-metre model of the projected work, as the city fathers had requested. When the architect died in 1401, construction on San Petronio had scarcely begun, and it is impossible to know just how faithfully the building reflects his original intentions. We can probably give him credit for the bright, airy nave, one of the real successes of Bolognese architecture.