Giuseppe Partini


Giuseppe Partini was an Italian architect, mostly involved in reconstructions in his native Siena. He was active with the sculptor Tito Sarocchi in the reconstruction of the Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo in Siena Italy, replacement of its original panels with copies. He also helped in the reconstruction of the Palazzo Marsili and the Palazzo Tantucci in Siena. He was an architects involved with maintenance of the Siena Cathedral. He reconstructed the Palazzo di Giustizia in Chiavari.

Biography

Early life and education

Giuseppe Partini was born in Siena on 5 May 1842. He studied architecture under Lorenzo Doveri and Giulio Rossi at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Siena. At that time the Accademia was an important centre of the Purismo movement, led by the painter Luigi Mussini.

Career

On Rossi’s death in 1861, Partini became an assistant teacher at the Accademia. That year he built his first work, a chapel for the Pieri Nerli family at Quinciano in the Val d’Arbia, near Siena. It is a small octagonal temple in a medieval style, decorated internally by contemporary Purismo artists, including Mussini, the sculptor Tito Sarrocchi and the painter Cesare Maccari. Also in 1861, he took part in a competition to design the new façade of Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence; although unsuccessful, his tripartite design for the cathedral attracted attention and led to many commissions. These included the funerary monument for his teacher Giulio Rossi in the Cimitero della Misericordia, Siena.
When Doveri died in 1866, Partini succeeded him as professor in the department of architecture at the Accademia and took over other prestigious posts, becoming the leading architect in Siena. As architect in charge of the Opera del Duomo he supervised, over a period of about 20 years, numerous projects that were intended to accentuate the Gothic character of the cathedral and led to the creation of the Museo dell’Opera.
As architect to the Arciconfraternita della Misericordia, he designed and built the extensions to their cemetery as well as many family chapels within it, including his wife’s tomb and family tombs for the Piccolomini, Pollini, Franci and De Metz. He also became architect to the Istituto per Sordomuti ‘T. Pendolo’ and supervised the restoration and enlargement of the institute’s premises.
In addition to these official duties Partini worked almost continuously on both restorations and new buildings. His restorations included the medieval Castello di Belcaro, near Siena, which had been much enlarged and remodelled by Baldassare Peruzzi; the Ospedale di Santa Fina at San Gimignano; the Benedictine abbey of Monte Oliveto Maggiore ; the creation of the Piazza Salimbeni, Siena, including the new customs house; the cathedral at Grosseto; and the remodelling in a neo-Gothic style of the Castello di Torre Alfina, north of Bolsena. He also removed the 17th-century Baroque work that clothed the medieval Basilica of San Francesco, Siena and remodelled the façade and internally restored the cathedral of Chiusi.
Among the many new buildings designed by Partini in his mature years were the Sala del Risorgimento, dedicated to Victor Emmanuel II, in the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena; the Palazzo Giustizia at Chiavari; and his own house, the Villa della Selva, at Osservanza, near Siena. He also found time to serve on many ministerial commissions dealing with the protection of historic monuments, but despite this volume of work Partini was virtually ignored in the 20th century, until an exhibition in Siena in 1991.

Selected works

  • 1861-1863 Pieri-Nerli Chapel at Quinciano
  • 1865-1868 Reconstruction of the Fonte Gaia in Piazza del Campo, Siena
  • 1865-1876 Ospedale di Santa Fina, San Gimignano
  • 1870 Ospedale di Montalcino
  • 1871-1879 Piazza and Palazzo Salimbeni at Siena
  • 1878-1881 Renovation of the Palazzo Comunale at San Gimignano
  • 1881 Remodelling of the Castello di Torre Alfina
  • 1882 Palazzo di Giustizia at Chiavari
  • 1887-1894 Renovation of the Basilica of San Francesco, Siena.