Giannantonio Selva (Venice 1753 - 1819), of Friuli origins and son of Lorenzo Selva, an illustrious physicist, was a highly appreciated Neoclassic architect, famous for having designed the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.

Having studied art and architecture, he travelled throughout Italy and Europe in the company of famous artists, such as the sculptor Antonio Canova.
His brillant artistic creativity made him an extremely popular architect in the late 1700s/early 1800s.
He was greatly influenced by Piranesi’s models and the decorative details of Etruscan inspiration used by the English brothers Robert and James Adam in architecture and interior design, especially when converting private palaces.

His major works are Villa Manfrin near Treviso (1794); the interior of the cathedral of Cologna Veneta (1806-17), near Verona; the Teatro Nuovo (1798-1801) in Trieste, now Teatro Verdi; the beautiful but unlucky (destroyed by fire in 1836 and again in 1996) Teatro La Fenice in Venice designed in the pure classic style in 1788 and finished in 1792.

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