Antonio Cappello

Antonio Cappello (1494-1565) was a Venetian noble, a member of the San Polo branch of the Cappello family. A Procurator of St Mark's, he acted as ambassador to the court of Charles V at Gand, but is mainly remembered for his role as one of the main promoters of public art and architectural projects in sixteenth-century Venice. He resided in the palazzo on San Polo now known as Ca Cappello Layard and oversaw its redevelopment.

He was born approximately in 1494, the son of Giambattista of Marino Cappello, a merchant and a nobleman, and Paola Garzoni, daughter of Marino Garzoni, who had been prominent in politics as procuratore de Citra, podestà of Verona, podestà of Mantua and finally duke of Candia. Antonio Cappello began his political career at a young age. In 1511 he was vice-podestà of Cologna Veneta, in 1515 an official at the Dogana da Mar - the maritime customs office- and in 1516, with a donation to the Republic of 200 ducats, he secured the office of provveditore and captain in Legnago, in the Verona countryside. There he amassed considerable rural wealth, as tax returns for 1537 show him in agrarian possessions measuring up to 1,200 Venetian campi in area. In 1519 he joined the savi alle decime, then, through a 400 ducat donation he secured access to the pregadi before purchasing for 8,000 ducats the office of procuratore de Supra, one of the two chief procurators of Saint Mark's, tasked with the conservation and expansion of the Basilica. He would maintain the prestigious role for 42 years.

An important evolution in the career of Antonio Cappello was his nomination to provveditor sopra le fabbriche di Legnago- superintended over the fortification works of Legnago- in 1528, following the removal of the incompetent Pietro Tagliapietra. His task was to aid in the construction of the “fortezza nova” at Legnago, strongly desired by doge Andrea Gritti, a project under the direction of the commander-in-chief of the Venetian land forces Francesco Maria I della Rovere. The building of the fort however turned out to be a slow and contested process. On the 15th December 1530 the chief architect working on the project, the Ferrarese Sigismondo de Fantis was fired for incompetency, to be replaced by his aide, the Veronese Michele Sanmicheli, whose Porta di San Martino had gained considerable acclaim as a tasteful yet function example of military engineering. Problems did not cease and in April 1532 the Republic’s authorities, learning that the works were still far behind schedule removed Antonio Cappello from his role as superintendent. Both Michele Sanmichele and Francesco Maria della Rovere however defended his role and actions.

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