Early life and education , drawn by Giovanni Pieroni. Pieroni travelled around the
Habsburg monarchy as a military engineer, and left a series of drawing and sketches of Central European towns and fortresses. Pieroni was born in
Florence on 5 March 1586. His childhood and education was privileged because his father
Alessandro Pieroni (1550-1607) was an architect at the court of the Medici. After studying law, he was awarded a doctorate in law in Pisa in 1608. He studied under Bernardo Buontalenti (1531-1608). During that time he befriended Galileo, who served then the Tuscan Grand Duke, Cosimo II di Medici. The two corresponded for many years, even after Pieroni left Florence.
Career Pieroni spent a lot of time working for general
Albrecht of Wallenstein (1583–1634), in
Vienna and
Prague, fixing up fortifications of castles and in that vein, of palace and park grounds, particularly the
Wallenstein Palace, collaborating with great
Baroque Italian artists and architects. His young assistant in both cities was
Baccio del Bianco, who memorably described Pieroni as an "astrological architect". From 1623 he worked on the rebuilding of the Bohemian town of
Jičín, which Waldstein was turning into a second capital. In 1628 he designed the Jičín
Jesuit college and submitted designs for the completion of the Waldstein palace there. In 1635, Pieroni was granted Wallenstein' former estate
Dubenec, first as administrator and since 1650 as possessor. Some time before 1637,
Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, raised Pieroni to the nobility for his achievements. Since 1639, Pieroni documented the state of fortifications in Croatia and along the
Military Frontier on behest of the
Hofkriegsrat, the Imperial war council. Based on his studies, he wrote the treatise
Trattato delle fortificazioni moderne. After the end of the
Thirty Years' War, Pieroni was in charge of the repair and expansion of Prague's fortifications under the city commanders Innocentio Conti and
Jan van der Croon. He was assisted by the builders and architects
Carlo Lurago and Santino Bossi. Van der Croon and Pieroni also took responsibility for constructing the defensive walls of
Náchod castle for its owner
Ottavio Piccolomini. ==References==