Villa Repeta is a

patrician villa Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a social class of patrician families, whose members were initially the only people allowed to exercise many political fu ...

Campiglia dei Berici Campiglia dei Berici is a town in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, Italy. It is west of SP247 provincial road. It originated in the Middle Ages around a castle, destroyed in the 1310s. Sights include a parish church (13th century, rebuilt in 1679) ...

province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a province in the Veneto region in northern Italy. Its capital city is Vicenza. The province has an area of 2,722.53 km², and a total population of 865,082 (as of 2017). There are 1 ...

, northern Italy. It was built in 1672, substituting a pre-existing villa designed by Italian Renaissance architect

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 ...

about 1557 and destroyed by a fire.

History

Villa Repeta Palladio Quattro Libri 1570

The villa which Palladio built for Mario Repeta – or at least the initial results of his building campaign – was destroyed by fire at an unspecified date, sometime between 1640 and 1672, when it was replaced by the existing new edifice. Therefore, Palladio’s Villa Repeta, designed around 1557, can only be reconstructed on the basis of the plate in the ''

I quattro libri dell'architettura ''I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (''The Four Books of Architecture'') is a treatise on architecture by the architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580), written in Italian. It was first published in four volumes in 1570 in Venice, illustrated wi ...

'', although recent studies have raised serious doubts that the engraving can effectively correspond to the project. Rather they suggest that this plate represents Palladio’s usual, a posteriori, theoretical, re-elaboration of an idea, which was in reality compromised by major pre-existing features.

Architecture

In any case, the project remains extraordinary among Palladio’s output: the structure has a continuous,

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 col ...

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 cult ...

of only one

storey A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

, which develops entirely horizontally around a rectangular

courtyard A courtyard or court is a circumscribed area, often surrounded by a building or complex, that is open to the sky. Courtyards are common elements in both Western and Eastern building patterns and have been used by both ancient and contemporary ...

. The only vertical elements are the two

dovecote A dovecote or dovecot , doocot ( Scots) or columbarium is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be free-standing structures in a variety of shapes, or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pige ...

s at the corners of the complex. Without the usual hierarchical dialogue between a dominant manorial house and agricultural annexes, the design of the villa might represent the product of a precise initiative on the part of the patrons and reflect the heterodox and egalitarian ideas of the Repeta family (Mario Repeta was denounced to the

Holy Office The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith (DDF) is the oldest among the departments of the Roman Curia. Its seat is the Palace of the Holy Office in Rome. It was founded to defend the Catholic Church from heresy and is the body responsible f ...

in 1569), restless protagonists in the public life of Vicenza during the 16th century. The actual villa was built 1672 by Enea and Scipione Repeta.

External links

Villa Repeta in CISA website
{{coord, 45.3425, N, 11.5396, E, type:landmark_region:IT-VI_source:commons, format=dms, display=title Houses completed in 1672 Andrea Palladio buildings Province of Vicenza Repeta 1557 establishments in the Republic of Venice 1672 establishments in Italy

History

Architecture

See also

External links