Rocco Lurago was born in
Pelsopra, and moved to Genoa as a young man. He came from a family of stone masons and architects: his brother, Giovanni Lurago, was a prominent architect. Rocco rented space in one of Giovanni’s workshops in 1558. Between 1567 and 1571 he was commissioned to work on stone carvings on the façade of Santa Croce di Bosco Marengo in
Piedmont, where he played a minor role under the architects
Ignazio Danti and
Martino Longhi the elder. By 1571 he was referred to as a master stone-carver. Rocco’s major Genoese commission was his carving (1583) with Giovanni Pietro Orsolino of the
Doric columns and balustrades for the seaward loggia of
Giovanni Andrea Doria’s villa in Fassolo after designs by
Giovanni Ponzello and Giuseppe Forlano. He designed the
Palazzo Doria-Tursi, adjacent to the
Palazzo Bianco which now belongs to the city. He designed the Dominican monastery in
Bosco Marengo for
Pope Pius V. Francesco da Novi was his pupil. ==Sources==