Alessandro Galilei

Alessandro Galilei (1691 to 1737) was an Italian mathematician, architect and theorist, born in Florence into the patrician Galilei family and described as a distant relative of Galileo Galilei. He received architectural and engineering training from Antonio Maria Ferri, working on building techniques, stereometry and hydraulics. Invited to London in 1714, he collaborated with the civic engineer Nicholas Dubois, and in 1718 he went to Ireland, where he designed the façade of the main block of Castletown House. Back in Florence from 1719 he served as engineer of court buildings and fortresses to the Medici grand dukes, and from 1731 he worked in Rome for Pope Clement XII, where his classical, anti-Baroque façade of San Giovanni in Laterano became his most notable work. He died in Rome.