Maginardo

Maginardo, also known as Maginardo of Arezzo, was an Italian architect who worked in the XI century in the diocese of Arezzo and in particular the Hillock of Pionta, the Episcopal seat and home to the cathedral. His most important work was the renovation of the Cathedral of St Stephen and St Mary of Pionta and the designing of the Temple of St Donatus commissioned by the bishop Adalberto. In order to fulfil this commission he was sent by the bishop to study the church of St Vitale of Ravenna to prepare his project for the Martyrium Temple of St Donatus, again on the Hillock of Pionta. Adalberto died in 1023 and the work on the great construction was completed under Bishop Teodaldo in 1032, and it was consecrated in the same year on the 12th November. Not even the whereabouts of this temple, which was destroyed in 1561 by Cosimo I of the Medici family, is known today. For this reason one of the aims of the Association’s project is to identify this majestic cathedral, which is believed to have been four times greater than the one of St Stephen and St Mary.