DOTTI, Carlo Francesco - b. 1669 Como, d. 1759 Bologna - WGA

DOTTI, Carlo Francesco

(b. 1669 Como, d. 1759 Bologna)

Italian architect. Born in Como, he settled in Bologna, where he became the leading Baroque architect. Together with Alfonso Torreggiani and the members of the Galli Bibiena family, specialized above all in the design of theaters and theatrical scenes, Dotti is one of the most important architects of Bologna in the first half of the 18th century.

Nothing is known about the formation and the first activity of Dotti, the first known documents refer to the restoration works at the Marsigli Rossi theater from 1710-11.

His most celebrated designs are the dramatically sited pilgrimage church, the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, near Bologna (1723-57), a vast domed church on an elliptical plan, and the Meloncello arch (1722).

In the first half of the eighteenth century he worked on the church of San Donato of Bologna, the university library and several palaces in the centre of the city. In the Palazzo Davia Bargellini he executed the monumental staircase around 1730. He was also known for the altar of Ivo of Kermartin in the San Petronio Basilica; and the Renazzo parish church, in the town of Cento in the Province of Ferrara.

Exterior view

Dotti’s masterpiece is the Sanctuary of the Madonna di San Luca, near Bologna, which is raised on a hilltop above the city, consisting of a church topped by an elliptical dome, with extensions leading to two pentagonal pavilions. The Baroque era was fond of such sanctuaries. As widely visible symbols, they dominate the landscape. The architect’s task was made particularly difficult, since he had not only to emulate the grand forms of nature herself by creating a stirring silhouette for the view from afar, but had also to attract those who would ascend the hill of the sanctuary. This dual problem was solved by Dotti in a masterly way.

A homogenous elliptical shape, encasing a Greek-cross design, is crowned by the dome - an effective combination of simple geometrical forms to be seen from a distance. For the near view he placed before the approach to the church a varied, richly articulated, and undulating building.

Less interesting is the interior, where Dotti followed Cortona’s Santi Martina e Luca.

View the ground plan of Madonna di San Luca, Bologna.

Send Postcard Learn More

General view

The Arco del Meloncello forms a pedestrian portico over the road (hence an arch); it is part of the Portico di San Luca, a long arcade that sheltered the walk from the Cathedral of Bologna to the hillside Sanctuary of San Luca in Bologna. It lies beyond the gates of the Porta Saragozza, outside the former city walls of Bologna.

The arch solved the problem of a site where two roads intersected at right angles, and allowed the foot traffic of the pilgrims to proceed above the road, Via Saragozza, uninterrupted. The architect was Carlo Francesco Dotti, who won the commission during a competition in 1714, and created the scenographic arrangement with the help of Francesco Galli Bibiena during 1721 to 1732. In the early twentieth century the arch was raised a few meters to allow passage of a train underneath.

Send Postcard Learn More