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Cavagna
was from Rome, but did most of his work in Naples.
Many of the buildings that he helped design and
build were finished by others. A partial list
includes the grand monastic complex of San Gregorio Armeno in the
historic center of Naples (photo, right, still a
formidable landmark in the city); the Basilica of San Paolo
Maggiore; and the Monte di Pietà, the
first great pawnbroking establishment in Naples
(which burned in 1903 and has since been restored).
He was also responsible for much of the stucco and
panel painting in the vast monastery of Monteoliveto
(most of which disappeared in 20th-century urban renewal)
as well as for the church (still extant) belonging
to that complex, Santa'Anna
dei Lombardi (aka S. Maria di Monteoliveto). He also
designed the royal grain storage facility in 1601.
Cavagna left Naples when his plans for a new
vice-royal palace were rejected in favor of those of
his rival, Domenico Fontana. |
Cavagna is one of those “other”
painters, architects and engineers in Naples, whose
name is often lost in the shuffle of the greats of
the Neapolitan Baroque, working as he did in the
shadow of his great contemporaries. In architecture,
that would be