Palladian villas of the Veneto

Last updated
Villa Capra "La Rotonda" in Vicenza. One of Palladio's most influential designs. 08-Villa-Rotonda-Palladio.jpg
Villa Capra "La Rotonda" in Vicenza. One of Palladio's most influential designs.
Villa Godi in Lugo Vicentino. An early work notable for lack of external decoration. VillaGodi 2007 07 07 01 retouched.jpg
Villa Godi in Lugo Vicentino. An early work notable for lack of external decoration.

The Palladian villas of the Veneto are villas designed by Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, all of whose buildings were erected in the Veneto, the mainland region of north-eastern Italy then under the political control of the Venetian Republic. Most villas are listed by UNESCO as part of a World Heritage Site named City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.

Contents

The term villa was used to describe a country house. Often rich families in the Veneto also had a house in town called palazzo . In most cases the owners named their palazzi and ville with the family surname, hence there is both a Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza and a Villa Chiericati in the countryside, similarly there is a Ca' Foscari in Venice and a Villa Foscari in the countryside. Somewhat confusingly, there are multiple Villa Pisani, including two by Palladio.

UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List in 1994. [1] At first the site was called "Vicenza, City of Palladio" and only buildings in the immediate area of Vicenza were included. Various types of buildings were represented in the original site, which included the Teatro Olimpico, some palazzi and a few villas. Because most of Palladio's surviving villas lay outside the site, in 1996 the site was expanded, hence the newer name "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto". This name reflects the fact that it includes villas designed by Palladio throughout the Veneto.

Villa architecture [2]

Villa Pisani, Bagnolo di Lonigo VillaPisani Bagnolo 2007 07 06 2.jpg
Villa Pisani, Bagnolo di Lonigo

By 1550, Palladio had produced a group of villas, whose scale and decoration can be seen as closely matching the wealth and social standing of the owners: the powerful and very rich Pisani family, bankers and Venetian patricians, had huge vaults and a loggia façade realised with stone piers and rusticated Doric pilasters; in his villa at Bertesina, the (briefly) wealthy minor noble and salt-tax farmer Taddeo Gazzotti had pilasters executed in brick, though the capitals and bases were carved in stone; Biagio Saraceno at Villa Saraceno had a loggia with three arched bays, but without any architectural order. In the Villa Saraceno as in the Villa Pojana, Palladio gave presence and dignity to an exterior simply by the placing and orchestration of windows, pediments, and loggia arcades. His less wealthy patrons must have appreciated the possibility of being able to enjoy impressive buildings without having to spend much on stone and stone carving.

Palladio's reputation initially, and after his death, has been founded on his skill as a designer of villas. Considerable damage had been done to houses, barns, and rural infrastructures during the War of the League of Cambrai (1509–1517). Recovery of former levels of prosperity in the countryside was probably slow, and it was only in the 1540s, with the growth of the urban market for foodstuffs and determination at government level to free Venice and the Veneto from dependence on imported grain, above all grain coming from the always threatening Ottoman Empire, that a massive investment in agriculture and the structures necessary for agricultural production gathers pace. Landowners for decades had been steadily under stable Venetian rule, been buying up small holdings, and consolidating their estates not only by purchase, but by swaps of substantial properties with the other landowners. Investment in irrigation and land reclamation through drainage further increased the income of wealthy landowners.

Palladio's villas (that is, the houses of estate owners) met a need for a new type of country residence. His designs implicitly recognise that it was not necessary to have a great palace in the countryside, modeled directly on city palaces, as many late fifteenth-century villas (like the huge Palazzo Porto Colleoni Thiene, also called a "Villa") in fact are. Something smaller, often with only one main living floor was adequate as a centre for controlling the productive activity from which much of the owner's income probably derived and for impressing tenants and neighbours as well as entertaining important guests.

The frescoes in the Villa Caldogno main hall depict the different moments of the life in villa at Palladio's age Villa Caldogno 2007-(21).jpg
The frescoes in the Villa Caldogno main hall depict the different moments of the life in villa at Palladio's age

These residences, though sometimes smaller than earlier villas, were just as effective for establishing a social and political presence in the countryside, and for relaxing, hunting, and getting away from the city, which was always potentially unhealthy. Façades, dominated by pediments usually decorated with the owner's coat of arms, advertised a powerful presence across a largely flat territory, and to be seen did not need to be as high as the owner's city palace. Their loggie offered a pleasant place to eat, or talk, or perform music in the shade, activities which one can see celebrated in villa decoration, for instance in the Villa Caldogno. In their interior, Palladio distributed functions both vertically and horizontally. Kitchens, store-rooms, laundries and cellars were in the low ground floor; the ample space under the roof was used to store the most valuable product of the estate, grain, which incidentally also served to insulate the living rooms below. On the main living floor, used by family and their guests, the more public rooms (loggia, sala) were on the central axis, while left and right were symmetrical suites of rooms, going from large rectangular chambers, via square middling sized rooms, to small rectangular ones, sometimes used by the owner as studies or offices for administering the estate.

The owner's house was often not the only building for which Palladio was responsible. Villas, despite their unfortified appearance and their open loggie were still direct descendants of castles, and were surrounded by a walled enclosure, which gave them some necessary protection from bandits and marauders. The enclosure (cortivo) contained barns, dovecote towers, bread ovens, chicken sheds, stables, accommodation for factors and domestic servants, places to make cheese, press grapes, etc.

Already in the 15th century it was usual to create a court with a well in front of the house, separated from the farmyard with its barns, animals, and threshing-floor. Gardens, vegetable and herb gardens, fish ponds, and almost invariably a large orchard (brolo) all were clustered around, or located inside the main courtyard.

Villa Pisani in Bagnolo in the I quattro libri dell'architettura by Palladio (book II) Villa Pisani.jpg
Villa Pisani in Bagnolo in the I quattro libri dell'architettura by Palladio (book II)

Palladio in his designs sought to co-ordinate all these varied elements, which in earlier complexes had usually found their place not on the basis of considerations of symmetry, vista, and architectural hierarchy, but of the shape of the available area, usually defined by roads and water courses. Orientation was also important: Palladio states in I quattro libri dell'architettura that barns should face south so as to keep the hay dry, thus preventing it from fermenting and burning.

Palladio found inspiration in large antique complexes which either resembled country houses surrounded by their outbuildings or which he actually considered residential layouts – an example is the temple of Hercules Victor at Tivoli, which he had surveyed. It is clear, for instance, that the curving barns which flank the majestic façade of the Villa Badoer were suggested by what was visible of the Forum of Augustus. In his book, Palladio usually shows villa layouts as symmetrical: he would have known however that often, unless the barns to the left and right of the house faced south, as at the Villa Barbaro at Maser, the complex would not have been built symmetrically. An example is the Villa Pojana, where the large barn, with fine Doric capitals, was certainly designed by Palladio. It faces south, and is not balanced by a similar element on the other side of the house.

List

The World Heritage site includes the following villas:

#NameLocationProvinceCoordinates
712-001

(23 site)

City of Vicenza including 23 buildings by Palladio Vicenza Vicenza 4073Vicenza.JPG 45°32′57″N11°32′58″E / 45.54917°N 11.54944°E / 45.54917; 11.54944 (City of Vicenza)
712-002 Villa Trissino Vicenza Vicenza VillaTrissinoTrettenero 2007 07 08 02.jpg 45°33′55″N11°32′49″E / 45.56528°N 11.54694°E / 45.56528; 11.54694 (Villa Trissino)
712-003 Villa Gazzotti Grimani Vicenza Vicenza VillaGazzotti 2007 07 18 3.jpg 45°33′13″N11°34′30″E / 45.55361°N 11.57500°E / 45.55361; 11.57500 (Villa Gazzotti)
712-004 Villa Almerico Capra, «La Rotonda» Vicenza Vicenza Larotonda2009.JPG 45°31′54″N11°33′36″E / 45.53167°N 11.56000°E / 45.53167; 11.56000 (Villa Almerico Capra)
712-005 Villa Angarano Bassano del Grappa Vicenza VillaAngarano 2007 07 16 01.jpg 45°46′50″N11°43′25″E / 45.78056°N 11.72361°E / 45.78056; 11.72361 (Villa Angarano)
712-006 Villa Caldogno Caldogno Vicenza VillaCaldognoNordera 2007 07 17 04.jpg 45°36′26″N11°30′24″E / 45.60722°N 11.50667°E / 45.60722; 11.50667 (Villa Caldogno)
712-007 Villa Chiericati Grumolo delle Abbadesse Vicenza VillaChiericati 2007 07 18 2.jpg 45°30′16″N11°39′12″E / 45.50444°N 11.65333°E / 45.50444; 11.65333
712-008 Villa Forni Cerato Montecchio Precalcino Vicenza VillaForniCerato 2007 07 16 01.jpg 45°39′11″N11°33′40″E / 45.65306°N 11.56111°E / 45.65306; 11.56111
712-009 Villa Godi Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino Vicenza VillaGodi 2007 07 07 01 retouched.jpg 45°44′44″N11°31′43″E / 45.74556°N 11.52861°E / 45.74556; 11.52861
712-010 Villa Pisani Bagnolo di Lonigo Vicenza Villa Pisani Bagnolo front retouched.jpg 45°21′31″N11°22′10″E / 45.35861°N 11.36944°E / 45.35861; 11.36944
712-011 Villa Pojana Poiana Maggiore Vicenza Villa Pojana photo by Marcok 2009-08-08 n13 rect.jpg 45°16′54″N11°30′03″E / 45.28167°N 11.50083°E / 45.28167; 11.50083
712-012 Villa Saraceno Agugliaro Vicenza VillaSaraCeno2007 07 11 1.jpg 45°18′38″N11°35′12″E / 45.31056°N 11.58667°E / 45.31056; 11.58667 (Villa Saraceno)
712-013 Villa Thiene Quinto Vicentino Vicenza VillaThieneQuintoVicentino 2007 07 16 02.jpg 45°34′22″N11°37′47″E / 45.57278°N 11.62972°E / 45.57278; 11.62972 (Villa Thiene)
712-014 Villa Trissino Sarego Vicenza ArcadeVillaTrissino Meledo 2007 07 06 3.jpg 45°25′42″N11°24′49″E / 45.42833°N 11.41361°E / 45.42833; 11.41361 (Villa Trissino)
712-015 Villa Valmarana Bolzano Vicentino Vicenza VillaValmaranaScagnolariZen 2007 07 16 01.jpg 45°35′01″N11°36′41″E / 45.58361°N 11.61139°E / 45.58361; 11.61139 (Villa Valmarana)
712-016 Villa Valmarana Monticello Conte Otto Vicenza VillaValmaranaBresson20070717-1.jpg 45°34′58″N11°35′40″E / 45.58278°N 11.59444°E / 45.58278; 11.59444 (Villa Valmarana)
712-017 Villa Badoer, «La Badoera» Fratta Polesine Rovigo Villa Badoer Fratta Polesine facciata by Marcok 2009-08-16 n08.jpg 45°01′48″N11°38′46″E / 45.03000°N 11.64611°E / 45.03000; 11.64611 (Villa Badoer)
712-018 Villa Barbaro Maser Treviso Villa Barbaro panoramica fronte Marcok.jpg 45°48′20″N11°58′48″E / 45.80556°N 11.98000°E / 45.80556; 11.98000 (Villa Barbaro)
712-019 Villa Emo Vedelago Treviso Villa Emo Fanzolo fronte 2009-07-18 f05b.jpg 45°42′43″N11°59′23″E / 45.71194°N 11.98972°E / 45.71194; 11.98972 (Villa Emo)
712-020 Villa Zeno Cessalto Treviso VillaZeno 2007 07 12 2.jpg 45°42′11″N12°38′20″E / 45.70306°N 12.63889°E / 45.70306; 12.63889 (Villa Zeno)
712-021 Villa Foscari, «La Malcontenta» Mira Venice Malcontenta retouched.jpg 45°26′07″N12°12′01″E / 45.43528°N 12.20028°E / 45.43528; 12.20028 (Villa Foscari)
712-022 Villa Pisani Montagnana Padua VillaPisani Montagnana2007 07 11 1.jpg 45°13′37″N11°28′07″E / 45.22694°N 11.46861°E / 45.22694; 11.46861 (Villa Pisani)
712-023 Villa Cornaro Piombino Dese Padua VillaCornaro 2007 07 14 front 1.jpg 45°36′14″N11°59′57″E / 45.60389°N 11.99917°E / 45.60389; 11.99917 (Villa Cornaro)
712-024 Villa Serego San Pietro in Cariano Verona VillaSarego20110707-1.jpg 45°29′58″N10°55′32″E / 45.49944°N 10.92556°E / 45.49944; 10.92556 (Villa Serego)
712-025 Villa Piovene Lugo Vicentino Vicenza VillaPiovene20070707-1 rect.jpg 45°44′48″N11°31′36″E / 45.74667°N 11.52667°E / 45.74667; 11.52667 (Villa Piovene)

Others

Other villas designed by Palladio but actually not included in the World Heritage list:

#NameLocationProvinceCoordinatesNotes
Wing of the Villa Thiene Cicogna of Villafranca Padovana Padua 45°30′11″N11°47′32″E / 45.5031°N 11.7923°E / 45.5031; 11.7923 (Wing of the Villa Thiene) unfinished, built only a barchessa
Villa Repeta Campiglia dei Berici Vicenza 45°20′33″N11°32′23″E / 45.3425°N 11.5396°E / 45.3425; 11.5396 (Villa Repeta) destroyed by a fire and rebuilt in other shape
Villa Porto Molina di Malo Vicenza unfinished
Villa Porto Vivaro di Dueville Vicenza uncertain attribution, but traditionally attributed to Palladio
Villa Contarini Piazzola sul Brenta Padua 45°32′38″N11°47′07″E / 45.543858°N 11.785262°E / 45.543858; 11.785262 (Villa Contarini) the original core of the villa was probably by Palladio
Villa Arnaldi Sarego Vicenza unfinished

In the Quattro libri (1570), Palladio published other projects of villas, but unrealized. Among them Villa Mocenigo a Marocco (now in Mogliano Veneto) [3] and Villa Mocenigo alla Brenta. [4]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andrea Palladio</span> 16th-century Italian Renaissance architect of the Republic of Venice

Andrea Palladio was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of the most influential individuals in the history of architecture. While he designed churches and palaces, he was best known for country houses and villas. His teachings, summarized in the architectural treatise, The Four Books of Architecture, gained him wide recognition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa La Rotonda</span> Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy

Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in Northern Italy designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1590s. The villa's official name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rotonda", "Villa Capra", and "Villa Almerico Capra". The name Capra derives from the Capra brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them in 1592. Along with other works by Palladio, the building is conserved as part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Badoer</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Badoer is a villa in Fratta Polesine in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It was designed in 1556 by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio for the Venetian noble Francesco Badoer, and built between 1557 and 1563 on the site of a medieval castle, which guarded a bridge across a navigable canal. This was the first time Palladio used his fully developed temple pediment in the façade of a villa.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palazzo Chiericati</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza, designed by Andrea Palladio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Chiericati</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Chiericati is a villa at Vancimuglio in the Veneto, northern Italy. It was designed for Giovanni Chiericati by the architect Andrea Palladio in the early 1550s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Godi</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Godi is a patrician villa in Lugo di Vicenza, Veneto, northern Italy. It was one of the first projects by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, as attested in his monograph I quattro libri dell'architettura. The work was commissioned by the brothers Girolamo, Pietro and Marcantonio Godi, started in 1537 and concluded in 1542, with later modifications to the rear entry and gardens.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Pojana</span>

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Cornaro</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Cornaro is a patrician villa in Piombino Dese, about 30 km northwest of Venice, Italy. It was designed by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio in 1552 and is illustrated and described by him in Book Two of his 1570 masterwork, I quattro libri dell'architettura .Villa Cornaro is an example of one of Palladio's designs whose influence can be seen in later architecture. In efforts on preservation, Villa Cornaro has not always remained in the possession of the state.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Pisani, Montagnana</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Villa Pisani is a patrician villa outside the city walls of Montagnana, Veneto, northern Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Saraceno</span> Villa in Agugliaro, Italy

Villa Saraceno is a Palladian Villa in Agugliaro, Province of Vicenza, northern Italy. It was commissioned by the patrician Saraceno family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Zeno</span> Building in Cessalto, Italy

Villa Zeno is a patrician villa at Cessalto, Veneto, northern Italy, and is the most easterly villa designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. The building is near the highway between Venice and Trieste, but was built to face a canal which served as the primary means of arrival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Angarano</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Villa Angarano or Villa Llewellyn Giuseppe Angarano is a villa in Bassano del Grappa, Veneto, northern Italy. It was originally conceived by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, who published a plan in his book I quattro libri dell'architettura.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Pisani, Bagnolo</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Villa Pisani is a patrician villa designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, located in Bagnolo, a hamlet in the comune of Lonigo in the Veneto region of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Caldogno</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Caldogno is a villa in the Veneto region of Italy, which is attributed to Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio. It was built for the aristocratic Caldogno family on their estate in the village of Caldogno near Vicenza. It is also known as the "Villa Nordera" after Dr. Ettore Nordera who owned the property through a large part of the 20th century.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Trissino (Meledo di Sarego)</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

Villa Trissino is an incomplete patrician villa designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, situated in the hamlet of Meledo in the comune of Sarego in the Veneto, north-eastern Italy. It was intended for the brothers Ludovico and Francesco Trissino.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Trissino (Cricoli)</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Villa Trissino is a patrician villa, which belonged to Gian Giorgio Trissino, located at Cricoli, just outside the center of Vicenza, in northern Italy. It was mainly built in the 16th century and is associated by tradition with the architect Andrea Palladio.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Piovene</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site

Villa Piovene is a Palladian villa built in Lugo di Vicenza, province of Vicenza, northern Italy. The building was commissioned in the 16th century for the aristocratic Venetian Piovene family, their architect believed to have been Andrea Palladio. It is part of the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto" since 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Villa Valmarana (Lisiera)</span> UNESCO World Heritage Site in Veneto, Italy

The Villa Valmarana is a Renaissance villa situated in Lisiera, a locality of Bolzano Vicentino, province of Vicenza, northern Italy. Designed by Andrea Palladio, it was originally built in the 1560s for the Valmarana family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wing of the Villa Thiene (Cicogna)</span>

The Wing of the Villa Thiene is a construction designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, located in Cicogna, a hamlet in the comune of Villafranca Padovana in the Veneto region of Italy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto</span> World Heritage Site in Italy

City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site in Italy, which protects buildings by the architect Andrea Palladio. UNESCO inscribed the site on the World Heritage List in 1994. At first the site was called "Vicenza, City of Palladio" and only buildings in the immediate area of Vicenza were included.

References

  1. "UNESCO World heritage site number 712". Whc.unesco.org. 2007-01-03. Retrieved 2012-05-06.
  2. The "Villa architecture" section was originally taken from: Howard Burns, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) Archived 2009-09-24 at the Wayback Machine , Centro Internazionale di Studi di Architettura Andrea Palladio  [ it ] (with kind permission of the CISA)
  3. Project published by Palladio in the I quattro libri dell'architettura (book 2nd; 1570); in the same site Villa Volpi was realized with a different project
  4. Project published by Palladio in the I quattro libri dell'architettura (book 2nd; 1570)
Map all coordinates using: OpenStreetMap

45°33′N11°33′E / 45.550°N 11.550°E / 45.550; 11.550