The Palazzo Chiericati 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 ideas ...
palace 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 th ...
(northern
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 re ...
), designed by
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 th ...
.
History
Palladio was asked to design and build the palazzo by Count
Girolamo Chiericati. The architect started building the palace in 1550, and some further work was completed under the patronage of Chiericati's son, Valerio. However, the palazzo was not fully finished until about 1680, possibly by
Carlo Borella
Carlo Borella was an Italian architect of the 17th century. He designed churches in Vicenza and is thought to have been the architect responsible for the completion of Palladio's Palazzo Chiericati.
One of Borella more notable works is the chur ...
.
Palladio also designed a country home, the
Villa Chiericati
Villa Chiericati (also known as Villa Chiericati-Rigo) 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.
Palladio also designed the family's t ...
, for the family.
The palazzo was built in an area called "piazza dell'Isola" (island square, currently Piazza Matteotti), which housed the wood and cattle market. At that time, it was an islet surrounded by the Retrone and Bacchiglione streams, and to protect the structure from the frequent floods, Palladio designed it on an elevated position: the entrance could be accessed by a triple Classic-style staircase.
Architecture
The palazzo's principal façade is composed of three bays, the central bay projecting slightly. The two end bays have
logge on the
piano nobile
The ''piano nobile'' (Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ''bel étage'') is the principal floor of a palazzo. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the hou ...
level, while the central bay is closed. The façade has two
superposed order
Superposed order (also superimposed) is one where successive storeys of a building have different orders. The most famous ancient example of such an order is the Colosseum at Rome, which had no less than four storeys of superposed orders. The sup ...
s of columns,
Doric Doric may refer to:
* Doric, of or relating to the Dorians of ancient Greece
** Doric Greek, the dialects of the Dorians
* Doric order, a style of ancient Greek architecture
* Doric mode, a synonym of Dorian mode
* Doric dialect (Scotland)
* Doric ...
on the lower level with
Ionic above. The roof line is decorated by
statuary
A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...
.
File:Palazzo Chiericati pianta Bertotti Scamozzi 1776.jpg, Floor plan (drawing by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1776)
File:Palazzo Chiericati sezione Bertotti Scamozzi 1776.jpg, Cross section (Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1776)
Conservation
Since 1855 the building has housed the Museo Civico ('City Museum') and, more recently, the city's art gallery. It has received international protection since 1994, along with the other Palladian buildings of Vicenza, as part of a
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 h ...
. (The site originally designated was "Vicenza, City of Palladio" which included the city of Vicenza and its immediate surroundings. In 1996,
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. It ...
expanded the World Heritage Site to include villas outside the core area and renamed it "
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 " ...
").
Gallery
File:Vicenza, Palazzo Chiericati.jpg, The double loggia.
File:Beelden daklijst palazzo Chiercati.jpg, Detail of the roofline
File:Palazzo Chiericati (Vicenza) by night.jpg, By night
File:Villa Chiericati ceiling beams 2.jpg, Painted ceiling in the open 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 ...
File:Palazzo Chiericati Vicenza vestibule ceiling.jpg, Ceiling panel in the vestibule
File:Palazzo Chiericati cherub ceiling 3.jpg
File:Palazzo Chiericati ceiling 2.jpg, Ceiling fresco
Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaste ...
paintings and ornamental stucco
File:Onamental ceiling Palazzo Chiericati Vicenza.jpg, Intricate ceiling coffers and frescos
File:Palazzo Chiericati ceiling 3.jpg
External links
* www.museicivicivicenza.it
Great buildings onlineretrieved 18.VIII.06
Palazzo Chiericati – Vicenza – (1550)Description, photographs and location map
{{Authority control
Houses completed in 1680
Chiericati
Andrea Palladio buildings
World Heritage Sites in Italy
1680 establishments in Italy
Museums in Vicenza