The architect and engineer Martino Bassi was born in Milan but originally from Lugano.
The title of the book I became friends with is entitled ‘Dispareri in materia di architettura et perspettiva’ and in fact from this you can already understand what it is about: the differences of ideas with another architect.
He is best known for his opposition to the first works designed by Pellegrino Tibaldi in Milan Cathedral (1569). One result of this dispute was Bassi’s publication of the book I analysed. In the “Dispareri” some of Tibaldi’s interventions are discussed and the opinions and judgements of some of the most famous architects of the time are collected.
The book is mainly composed of theses by the author Bassi, but it also contains letters showing the different perspectives of some architects on architectural topics.
The famous architects were Andrea Palladio, Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola, Giorgio Vasari and Giovanni Battista Bertani, whom Bassi asked by letter for their opinion on some problems he had raised concerning the work carried out in the cathedral of Milan by Pellegrino Tibaldi.
It is a relatively thin book, but at the same time it very strongly represents an idea that contrasts with that of another well-known figure: Tibaldi.
The book mainly presents a text, but at the end of the whole work, there are many illustrations that represent its content.