 Gioacchino Toesca was born in 1745 in Rome.He studied architecture as a student of Francesco Sabatini and at the age of 15, he moved to Madrid and later completed his studies in mathematics in Barcelona.In 1780 he traveled to South America, to Santiago in the colonial Captaincy General of Chile at the request of the Royal Governor Agustín de Jáuregui and the Archbishop Santiago Manuel de Alday y Aspée, who engaged him to design the "Catedral de Santiago de Chile" (present day Santiago Metropolitan Cathedral).