By Livia Lupi
Architect Carlo Amati died in Milan on 23 March 1852. He was born in Monza on 22 August 1776, and studied at the Accademia di Brera with Giacomo Albertolli (nephew of Giocondo), Leopoldo Pollack and Giuseppe Zanoia. Amati was a neoclassical architect, but contributed to the completion of the gothic façade of the Duomo in Milan, which Napoleon had commissioned to his teacher Leopoldo Pollack and which was completed in 1813.
Other work by Amati has a strong neoclassical character, for example the church at Casate Nuovo in Brianza (1805), the façade of the church in Brivio and the wooden pulpit for the Duomo in Monza (1808). His most important work is the church of San Carlo al Corso in Milan (1836-47), which is inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. For the project of San Carlo al Corso he worked with Pompeo Marchesi, the most famous Italian artist of the time.
Amati was also a prolific author, publishing several works on architecture and archaeology such as Regole del chiaroscuro in architettura (1802) and Antichità di Milano (1821).
Reference: Paolo Mezzanotte, “Amati, Carlo.” Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, Enciclopedia Treccani
Anon., Profile portrait of Carlo Amati, 1858, San Carlo al Corso, Milan.
San Carlo al Corso, 1836-47, Milan.
Wooden pulpit, 1808, Duomo, Monza.
Project for the church at Brivio, 1809.