Smithsonian Magazine
Per a statement from Princeton University, researchers used complex computer analysis to answer two overarching questions: How can builders construct such large structures without supporting framework, and what can we can learn from Renaissance techniques? Princeton’s Sigrid Adriaenssens and Vittorio Paris and Attilio Pizzigoni of the University of Bergamo analyzed domes designed by Antonio Sangallo the Younger and his family of architects, who created many such structures in 15th- and 16th-century Italy.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/how-renaissance-duomos-were-built-180974965/
Related from Archinect: Princeton University researchers crack secret to Italian renaissance dome construction
https://archinect.com/news/article/150198989/princeton-university-researchers-crack-secret-to-italian-renaissance-dome-construction