The Basilica Palladiana is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass id ...

building in the central Piazza dei Signori in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the '' Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a t ...

, north-eastern

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. The most notable feature of the edifice is the

loggia In architecture, a loggia ( , usually , ) is a covered exterior gallery or corridor, usually on an upper level, but sometimes on the ground level of a building. The outer wall is open to the elements, usually supported by a series of columns ...

, which shows one of the first examples of what have come to be known as the

Palladian window Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective an ...

, designed by a young

Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) 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 ...

, whose work in architecture was to have a significant effect on the field during the Renaissance and later periods. Since 1994, the Basilica Palladiana, together with other Palladian buildings in and around Vicenza, has been part of the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

World Heritage Site A World Heritage Site is a landmark or area with legal protection by an international convention administered by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO for ...

City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto 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 " ...

History

The building was originally constructed in the 15th century and was known as the Palazzo della Ragione, having been designed by Domenico da Venezia to include two pre-existing public palazzi. The building, which was in the

Gothic style Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages * Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes ** Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths ** Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoke ...

, served as the seat of government and also housed a number of shops on the ground floor. The -tall Torre Bissara precedes this structure, as it is known from as early as 1172; however, its height was increased on this occasion, and its

pinnacle A pinnacle is an architectural element originally forming the cap or crown of a buttress or small turret, but afterwards used on parapets at the corners of towers and in many other situations. The pinnacle looks like a small spire. It was mainl ...

was finished in 1444. It has five bells in the chord of E. The 15th-century edifice had an upside-down cover, partly supported by large

archivolt An archivolt (or voussure) is an ornamental moulding or band following the curve on the underside of an arch. It is composed of bands of ornamental mouldings (or other architectural elements) surrounding an arched opening, corresponding to the ...

s, inspired by the one built in 1306 for the eponymous building of

Padua Padua ( ; it, Padova ; vec, Pàdova) is a city and ''comune'' in Veneto, northern Italy. Padua is on the river Bacchiglione, west of Venice. It is the capital of the province of Padua. It is also the economic and communications hub of t ...

. The Gothic façade was in red and ''gialletto'' marble of Verona, and is still visible behind the Palladio addition. A double order of columns was built by Tommaso Formenton in 1481–1494 to surround the palace. However, two years after its completion, the south-western corner collapsed. In the following decades, the Vicentine government called in architects such as Antonio Rizzo, Giorgio Spavento, Antonio Scarpagnino, Jacopo Sansovino, Sebastiano Serlio, Michele Sanmicheli and Giulio Romano to propose a reconstruction plan. In 1546, the Council of One Hundred chose a 40-year-old local architect,

, to reconstruct the building starting from April 1549. Palladio added a new outer shell of marble classical forms, a loggia and a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many c ...

that now obscure the original Gothic architecture. He also dubbed the building a "basilica", after the ancient Roman civil structures of that name. The Basilica was an expensive project (some 60,000 ducats once finished) and took a long time to complete. Palladio received for the work an income of five ducats a month for most of his life. In 1614—thirty years after his death—the building was completed, with the finishing of the main façade on Piazza delle Erbe.

Description

Drawings by Palladio, from his original proposal of 1546 to the final construction, have been preserved. His solution, which also encompasses the necessary measure to adapt the addition to the pre-existing structure, is based on the so-called serliana: this is a repetitive structure in which round arches are flanked by rectangular openings; the latter were of different size, in order to match the variable size of the internal

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

. In the angular arcades, the architrave openings become very narrow. The serliana had been already used in the Veneto some years before by Jacopo Sansovino for his

Biblioteca Marciana The Marciana Library or Library of Saint Mark ( it, italic=no, Biblioteca Marciana, but in historical documents commonly referred to as ) is a public library in Venice, Italy. It is one of the earliest surviving public libraries and repositorie ...

(1537), as well as in the reconstruction of the Polirone Abbey by Giulio Romano (1540). The loggias in the lower floor were in the

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of ...

; the associated

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

has a frieze which alternates metope (decorated by dishes and bucrania) and triglyphs. The upper-floor loggias, by contrast, are in the

Ionic order The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composi ...

, with a continuous frieze entablature. The

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

has statues by

Giovanni Battista Albanese Giovanni may refer to: * Giovanni (name), an Italian male given name and surname * Giovanni (meteorology), a Web interface for users to analyze NASA's gridded data * ''Don Giovanni'', a 1787 opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, based on the legend of ...

, Grazioli and Lorenzo Rubini. The clocktower has five bells in the chord of E major.

Conservation

Since 1994 the Basilica has been protected as part of the

also including the other Palladian buildings of Vicenza. The building now often hosts exhibitions in its large hall used for civic events.

Restoration

A large restoration project started in 2007. In 2014 it won the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage / Europa Nostra Award.

Gallery

Torre Bissara e Basilica Palladiana Vicenza.jpg, Clocktower ('' Torre Bissara'') and loggia of the Basilica Palladiana Palladio Palazzo della Ragione upper.jpg, Upper level loggia Basilica Palladiana 1.jpg, Ground floor Basilica di Vicenza-1.jpg, A night view of the ''Basilica Palladiana'' Basilica Palladiana, view from monte berico.JPG, Basilica Palladiana, view from ''Monte Berico'' Palazzo della Ragione.gif, Detail of the upper loggia with two serliana (drawn from I quattro libri dell'architettura)

References

External links

*
Logge of the Palazzo della Ragione - Vicenza - (1546-1549)
{{Authority control Buildings and structures completed in 1172 Towers completed in the 12th century Buildings and structures completed in 1494 Houses completed in 1614 Palladiana Palaces in Vicenza Andrea Palladio buildings Renaissance architecture in Vicenza 1614 establishments in Italy Loggias in Italy