The architect of the Clerics - Nicolau Nasoni

Nicolau Nasoni was born in San Giovanni Valdarno on June 2, 1691. He spent his adolescence in his hometown, where his friend and master, Vincenzo Ferrati, discovered his great potential as a designer. He decided to take Nasoni to Siena and offered him the opportunity to work as an apprentice, which allowed him to evolve at an artistic and social level. 

In 1722, Nasoni left for Malta where he painted the frescoes in the noble hall of the Chancellery of the Sobrano Order of Malta (now the Italian Institute of Culture) and painted the vault in the hostel of the Order of the Knights (current National Archaeological Museum of La Valletta), as well as the frescoes of the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. From this period, the great pictorial cycle of the galleries of the Palace of the Grand Master of Malta, at the time, occupied by the Portuguese Dom António Manuel de Vilhena, stands out. 

Nasoni arrived in Portugal in September 1725 as responsible for the aesthetic renovation of the sacristy and the main chapel of the Cathedral of Porto. In this work, the painter who brought to Portugal the novelty of the quadrature, demonstrates with mastery the technique of painting in an illusionist perspective. 

From 1731, with the design for the church and tower of the Clerics, the figure of the painter Nasoni definitely gives place to the figure of the architect and designer Nasoni. 

Nicolau Nasoni excelled in two great arts: architectural and pictorial.  In the north of Portugal, and especially in Porto, he designed numerous religious and civil buildings, which still mark the architectural panorama of the city.

He died on August 30th, 1773 and was buried at the Church of the Clerics.