Biography

Swiss/Italian architect and stonemason. He was born into a family of architects and sculptors from Lugano: his father was Bernardino Contin (1530-1596), his brothers Tommaso Contin (1570-1634) and Francesco Contin. He was the grandson of Antonio da Ponte whom he assisted with the construction of the Rialto Bridge in Venice. The collaboration with his grandfather started in 1591 and ended with the death of the latter in 1597.

In 1614 Antonio and Tommaso Contin completed the works on the prisons in Venice (across the canal east of the Doge's Palace) begun by Giovanni Antonio Rusconi (1563) and Antonio da Ponte (1589). He designed the Bridge of Sighs, linking the building of detention with the Doge's Palace.

He reconstructed with his brother Tommaso, the Scuola di San Girolamo which was destroyed by fire in 1592. This work was completed in 1604.