Dr. Rocky Ruggiero

While the architect Francesco Borromini might not be as celebrated as his contemporary rival, Gian Lorenzo Bernini, he was considered the greatest architectural genius of the Baroque age. Buildings such as San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, Sant’Ivo alla Sapienza, and Sant’Agnese in Agone in Rome all demonstrate Borromini’s new and - according to some - anti-classical vision of sculptural movement in architecture, undisturbed by color, materials or drama. His radical shift away from designs based on human proportions and towards geometric modules instead, as well as his use of space and light as architectural components revolutionized architecture. And although many called him a genius, Borromini’s neurotic, paranoid, frequently depressed and ultimately suicidal personality led many instead to call him mad.