Italian sculptor, born in Spilamberto where his house is now a museum. He studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Modena. His patron was Duke Francesco IV. He went to Rome where he created his masterpieces: the huge statue of St Paul in the atrium of the basilica San Paolo fuori le Mura, and the bronze Virgin at top of an ancient Roman marble column, found in 1777 in the Monastery of Santa Maria della Concezione in Campo Marzio, now in the Piazza di Spagna, Rome. //