Gaspare Maria Paoletti - Architect and sculptor

Despite the modest economic conditions of his family, he was introduced to the study of mathematics and mechanics and then attended architecture lessons at the Accademia del disegno in Florence.

Giuseppe Ruggieri, architect of the Scrittoio delle regie fabbrica e giardini, wanted him to help him in the construction of the baths of San Giuliano near Pisa, and introduced him to the circles of the Lorraine court so much so as to propose him as a collaborator of the Dominican Benedetto Vincenzo de Greyss for the drafting of the illustrated inventory of the Uffizi Gallery.

In 1752 he began his career as an architect.

In 1766 he entered as an assistant architect to Giuseppe Ruggieri at the Scrittoio delle regie fabbrica e giardini in Florence where he had the opportunity to demonstrate his skills and his technical and artistic preparation and where he became first architect in 1768.

Among the main exponents of the neoclassical style in Tuscany, Paoletti worked at the grand ducal court of the Lorena family, enjoying the esteem of Pietro Leopoldo d’Asburgo Lorena, Grand Duke of Tuscany who in 1773 described him as skilled and active with ability and talent although a little “expensive”.

From 1766 to 1795, he took care of the Pitti Palace complex and the Boboli Gardens.

From 1768 to 1783 he intervened in the villa del Poggio Imperiale with expansion and decoration works, without being able to complete the reorganization.

From 1771 to 1778 he was commissioned to transform Palazzo Torrigiani in Via Romana, near Palazzo Pitti, into the Museum of Physics and Natural History intended to conserve and exhibit the scientific material collected by the Grand Duke. The Museum was inaugurated in 1775, when it was equipped with two modern botanical gardens intended for the cultivation of rare and exotic plants.

From 1772 he was involved in the design and construction of the new Montecatini baths.

In particular he was responsible for the construction of the Rinfresco and Regio baths, the restoration of the Tettuccio pool, the burying of the crater of the Regina bath, the construction of the Leopoldine baths on the Rogna spring, and the Palazzina Regia intended as the Grand Ducal residence and then for the management of the spa complex. In 1784 he designed an inn for the Benedictine monks, consignors of the spa establishments, intended for the guests of the spa. He also took care of a new drainage channel for the bath waters, and with Francesco Bombicci he provided the spa complex with tree-lined walks.

In 1784 he adapted the premises of the old hospital of S. Matteo in Piazza S. Marco in Florence to house the new Academy of Fine Arts. Here, in 1788, he managed to move a small chapel frescoed by Giovanni da San Giovanni from the nearby Palazzo della Crocetta.

Over the years, the management of the Scrittoio delle regie fabbrica e giardini also entrusted him with other tasks and there were also numerous private commissions, all in Florence.

Although very busy, he taught at the Academy of Fine Arts in Florence, spreading his innovative ideas to the new generation. The Academy itself had him as a member since 1753, reader of mathematics since 1766 and master of architecture since 1784.

Giuseppe Manetti, Giuseppe Valentini, Cosimo Rossi Melocchi, Giovanni Salucci, Giuseppe Cacialli, Pasquale Poccianti, Luigi De Cambray Digny trained at his school, who reproposed his monumental rigor that barely anticipated the neoclassical movement.

Upon his death he was buried in the chapel of S. Luca of the Basilica of the Ss. Annunziata, a privilege of the greatest artists of the Academy of Drawing and in 1881 the Academy of Fine Arts and the College of Architects and Engineers of Tuscany commemorated him with a plaque placed on the facade of his home in Via della Colonna in Florence.