Italian Baroque architecture refers to Baroque architecture in Italy. Central Italy Rome The Baroque architecture period began in the Italian period of the basilica with crossed dome and nave. One of the first Roman structures to break with the Mannerist conventions (as exemplified in the Church of the Gesù) was the church of Church of Saint Susanna, designed by Carlo Maderno in 1596. The dynamic organisation of columns and pilasters, central massing, and the protrusion and condensed central decoration add complexity to the structure. Most Baroque buildings present domes. There is an emerging playfulness with the rules of classic design, still maintaining rigour. The same emphasis on plasticity, continuity and dramatic effects is evident in the work of Pietro da Cortona, illustrated by Santi Luca e Martina (1635) and Santa Maria della Pace (1656). Santa Maria della Pace, with its concave wings devised to simulate a theatrical set, fills a tiny piazza in front of it. Other Roman ensembles of the period are likewise suffused with theatricality, dominating the surrounding cityscape as a sort of theatrical environment. Probably the best known example of such an approach is trapezoidal Saint Peter's Square, which has been praised as a masterpiece of Baroque architecture. The square is divided in two parts, designed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini on an unprecedented colossal scale to suit the space and evoke awe. Bernini's own favourite design was the polychromatic oval church of Sant'Andrea al Quirinale (1658), which, with its lofty altar and soaring dome, provides a concentrated sampling of the new architecture. His idea of the Baroque townhouse is typified by the Palazzo Barberini (1629) and Palazzo Chigi-Odescalchi (1664), both in Rome. Bernini's chief rival in the papal capital was Francesco Borromini, whose designs deviate from the regular compositions of the ancient world and Renaissance even more dramatically. Acclaimed by later generations as a revolutionary in architecture, Borromini condemned the anthropomorphic approach of the 16th century, choosing to base his designs on complicated geometric figures (modules). Borromini's architectural space seems to expand and contract when needed, showing some affinity with the late style of Michelangelo. His iconic masterpiece is the church of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane, distinguished by a corrugated oval plan and complex convex-concave rhythms. A later work, Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza, displays the same antipathy to the flat surface and playful inventiveness, epitomized by a corkscrew lantern dome. Following the death of Bernini in 1680,