ABSTRACT
Established by the Treaty of Cateau-Cambresis in 1559, the political boundaries of Italy were broadly intact at the beginning of the seicento and remained so until the succession wars of the eighteenth century. In the public sector, very few buildings of any distinction were commissioned by viceroys, governors and urban governments throughout most of the seventeenth century. Both the Counter-Reformation and the establishment of regional states in the seventeenth century provided a favourable climate for the construction of magnificent churches and civic buildings as a means of stimulating awe and civic pride among the citizenry and gaining the respect of outsiders. In contrast, the increasing weakness of the Spanish dominions meant that very few public buildings of any prominence were funded except for projects started in the previous century. Unlike political developments in France and Prussia, and because of the usefulness of the nobility to their imperial overlords, none of the Spanish possessions in Italy evolved into an absolute state.
