Tempietto

Tempietto is the Italian term for a small temple, used in architectural language to denote a diminutive shrine built in classical style. The word is applied to both actual temple-like structures and decorative garden follies that imitate ancient forms.

The best-known Tempietto is the Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio in Rome, designed by Donato Bramante and completed around 1504. Commissioned by Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile to mark the traditional site of Saint Peter’s martyrdom, it is situated in the courtyard of the church of San Pietro in Montorio.

Architecturally, it presents a compact circular plan enclosed by a Doric colonnade. The exterior consists of a ring of sixteen columns supporting an entablature and a shallow cornice, while a hemispherical dome rises above on a drum. The design embodies High Renaissance preoccupations with proportion, symmetry, and the revival of classical temple forms adapted to a small-scale shrine.

The Tempietto is celebrated as a milestone of Renaissance architecture, influencing contemporary and later architects, including Bramante’s projects for St. Peter’s Basilica. It is commonly cited as an exemplary synthesis of Vitruvian ideals with a centralized, monument-like sacred space.

Beyond this building, the term tempietto is used for other small temple-like structures in Italy and elsewhere, often reflecting classical or romanticized emulation of antiquity in gardens, chapels, and necropolises.