Learn Italian: Questo famoso museo sarà progettato da un architetto straniero. - This famous museum will be designed by a foreign architect.

We use the future tense of the auxiliary verb essere (to be), which is sarà for an 'it' subject, followed by the past participle of the main verb: progettato (designed). So, sarà progettato means 'will be designed'.

Does the past participle progettato agree with the museum or the architect?

It agrees with the grammatical subject of the sentence, which is Questo famoso museo (masculine singular). That is why progettato ends in -o. In passive sentences, the past participle always agrees with the subject, regardless of who is actually doing the action.

Why is da used before un architetto straniero?

In the passive voice, the preposition da (by) is used to introduce the agent—the person or thing that is actually performing the action. Here, it is the word that connects the passive action to the person who will physically design the museum.

Why is famoso placed before museo, but straniero is placed after architetto?