Italian Architecture of the 16th Century is the last published work of the legendary Colin Rowe, the fruit of his four-year collaboration with Leon Satkowski, a Rowe student and author of Giorgio Vasari: Architect and Courtier. The book is a testament to the buildings, architects, and artists Rowe most deeply appreciated. For the millions of travelers who flock to Italy to see the art and architecture of the 16th century-subjects that captured Rowe's heart and challenged his fertile mind-this book is at once a pleasurable read and the pinnacle in scholarship. It is written in Rowe's unmatched and engaging personal style, and it is beautifully illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, and paintings of the art and architecture that make this period and this place so beloved. The book emphasizes the leading subjects of the 16th -century Renaissance: the architects (Bramante, Vignola), the patrons (Leo X, Cosimo I de Medici), the artists (Michelangelo), and the cities (Rome, Venice, Florence). As the finest critical scholarship on cinquecento Italy and an accessible guide for the non-scholar, this book is destined to be regarded as one of Rowe's most important.

Italian Architecture of the 16th Century is the last published work of the legendary Colin Rowe, the fruit of his four-year collaboration with Leon Satkowski, a Rowe student and author of Giorgio Vasari: Architect and Courtier. The book is a testament to the buildings, architects, and artists Rowe most deeply appreciated. For the millions of travelers who flock to Italy to see the art and architecture of the 16th century-subjects that captured Rowe's heart and challenged his fertile mind-this book is at once a pleasurable read and the pinnacle in scholarship. It is written in Rowe's unmatched and engaging personal style, and it is beautifully illustrated throughout with photographs, drawings, and paintings of the art and architecture that make this period and this place so beloved. The book emphasizes the leading subjects of the 16th -century Renaissance: the architects (Bramante, Vignola), the patrons (Leo X, Cosimo I de Medici), the artists (Michelangelo), and the cities (Rome, Venice, Florence). As the finest critical scholarship on cinquecento Italy and an accessible guide for the non-scholar, this book is destined to be regarded as one of Rowe's most important.


Colin Rowe was a wildly popular lecturer at Cornell. A mentor to thousands, his legacy at Cornell matches that of Vincent Scully at Yale. Rowe's lectures assumed legendary status and notes by students continue to circulate; his seminal books include Mathematics of the Ideal Villa, and Collage City.

Leon Satkowski , who trained at Cornell and Harvard, is a professor of architecture and art history at the University of Minnesota.