Giulio Parigi was an Italian architect and designer. He was the main member of a family of architects and designers working for the Grand Ducal court of the Medici

Medici

The House of Medici or Famiglia de' Medici was a political dynasty, banking family and later royal house that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici in the Republic of Florence during the late 14th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of the Tuscan countryside,...

. His father, Alfonso Parigi the Elder

Alfonso Parigi the Elder

Alfoso Parigi was an Italian architect and designer working in Florence for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.His major commission was the completion of Giorgio Vasari's Palazzo degli Uffizi...

, was an architect and designer working in Florence for the Grand Duke of Tuscany.

Through his father's collaborations under the court architect Bernardo Buontalenti

Bernardo Buontalenti

Bernardo Buontalenti, byname of Bernardo Delle Girandole was an Italian stage designer, architect, theatrical designer, military engineer and artist.-Biography:Buontalenti was born in Florence....

, Giulio Parigi was trained in the practice of architecture. Following Buontalenti's death (1608) he designed and oversaw the creation of the elaborate ephemeral decorations for court festivities, in which he was an influence on Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones

Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...

, who was providing similar services in the same years for the court of James I of England

James I of England

James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...

. Giulio worked on the Boboli Gardens

Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...

, constructing the Grotto of Vulcan (Grotticina di Vulcano, 1617) and laying out the second axis of the Boboli Gardens

Boboli Gardens

The Boboli Gardens are a park in Florence, Italy, that is home to a collection of sculptures dating from the 16th through the 18th centuries, with some Roman antiquities.-History and layout:...

, at right angles to the first, with the bosquet

Bosquet

In the French formal garden, a bosquet is a formal plantation of trees, at least five of identical species planted as a quincunx, or set in strict regularity as to rank and file, so that the trunks line up as one passes along either face...

s on either side.

Giulio rebuilt the Villa di Poggio Imperiale

Villa di Poggio Imperiale

Villa del Poggio Imperiale is a predominantly neoclassical former grand ducal villa in Arcetri, just to the south of Florence in Tuscany, central Italy...

 (1620–1622), and constructed the Ospedale dei Medicanti (1621), the church of San Felice in Piazza (1634–1635) and worked on projects for the Palazzo della Crocetta for Maria Maddalena de' Medici

Maria Maddalena de' Medici

Maria Maddalena de' Medici was an Tuscan princess, the eighth daughter of Ferdinando I and Christina of Lorraine, making her the sister of Cosimo II.-Life:...

. His is also the grand stairs of Palazzo Gianni-Lucchesini-Vegni (1624).

Giulio's son, Alfonso's grandson, Alfonso Parigi

Alfonso Parigi

Alfonso Parigi the Younger was an Italian architect and scenographer, the son of Giulio Parigi.He worked mainly in Florence, beginning at a very early age as his father's assistant...

the Younger was also an architect and engraver.