Gaspare and Carlo Vigarani

Gaspare Vigarani (1588-1663), from Reggio Emilia, was the 'Engineer and Chief Superintendent of the Workshops' for Duke Francesco I of Modena. Like every artist who worked for the Este, he had to do a little bit of everything, from building fortifications to reforming and embellishing the system of canals (the Canale del Naviglio)

Mostly his time was divided between architecture and creating the sets and the stage mechanisms—the macchine, such as floating clouds, wave machines, fireworks, sea monsters and sea battles, floating gods and goddesses—for the legendary stage productions staged by the dukes. At these he was the master of his day, earning him the nickname il Stregone, the 'great sorcerer'

As an architect, Vigarani designed the Palazzina in the Giardini Ducale in Modena (1632), as a centrepiece for what was then the dukes' gardens, and a setting for the court's summer theatre. In his remarkable church of San Giorgio, the interior itself becomes a kind of stage set. Other works include the richly decorated Sant'Agostino in Modena, and the ingenious SS Girolamo e Vitale in Reggio Emilia, where three oratories on three different levels are squeezed into a tiny space.