Villa Serego or Villa Sarego is a

Palladian 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 and ...

villa at Santa Sofia di Pedemonte,

San Pietro in Cariano San Pietro in Cariano ( vec, San Piero in Carian) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Verona in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about northwest of Verona. It is located in the geographical region of Valp ...

in the province of Verona, 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 ...

. It was built for the aristocratic Sarego family, and 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 ...

. The villa is distinctive for its use of rusticated columns of the Ionic order.

History

The villa was commissioned by the Venetian nobleman Marcantonio Sarego for an estate which came into his possession in 1552.www.cisapalladio.org website
accessed December 2008 A rough date for its execution is c. 1560-1570. A plan of the building appears in Palladio's ''

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 ...

'' of 1570, but it relates to a larger project than was actually completed. A habitable building is known to have existed by 1572 from Marcantonio's will of that date, but he died leaving some of the project as little more than foundations. In 1857, further construction took place, which makes the villa appear finished but does not fully respect the original design.

Architecture

Two limestone sculptures stand surrounded by semi-circular hedges in front of the villa. They appear to be the deities Diana (with attributes of the hunt) and

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label= Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label ...

(holding a harp), symbolic of the villa being both a rural retreat and a refuge for culture and beauty. The villa is built around a courtyard, which is derived from the

atrium Atrium may refer to: Anatomy * Atrium (heart), an anatomical structure of the heart * Atrium, the genital structure next to the genital aperture in the reproductive system of gastropods * Atrium of the ventricular system of the brain * Pulmona ...

Roman villa A Roman villa was typically a farmhouse or country house built in the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, sometimes reaching extravagant proportions. Typology and distribution Pliny the Elder (23–79 AD) distinguished two kinds of villas n ...

s. Palladio was familiar with such designs from his researches into

ancient Roman architecture Ancient Roman architecture adopted the external language of classical Ancient Greek Architecture, Greek architecture for the purposes of the ancient Romans, but was different from Greek buildings, becoming a new architecture, architectural style ...

, but courtyards are rare in his own buildings. The colossal columns of the courtyard are executed in a rough aesthetic – Palladio refers to them being made of "non polite" stone. Although ultimately derived from ancient Roman buildings, the columns are reminiscent of

Mannerist Mannerism, which may also be known as Late Renaissance, is a style in European art that emerged in the later years of the Italian High Renaissance around 1520, spreading by about 1530 and lasting until about the end of the 16th century in Ita ...

design and have features found in the architecture of

Verona Verona ( , ; vec, Verona or ) is a city on the Adige River in Veneto, Italy, with 258,031 inhabitants. It is one of the seven provincial capitals of the region. It is the largest city municipality in the region and the second largest in nor ...

. They are practically unique in Palladio's work, but are echoed in a gateway at Villa Trissino (Meledo di Sarego). Villa Serego_sezione_Bertotti Scamozzi 1781.jpg, Cross section (drawing by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1781) Villa Serego_pianta_Bertotti Scamozzi 1781.jpg, Floor plan (Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1781)

Conservation

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 ...

included the villa in the

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 ...

" City of Vicenza and Palladian Villas of the Veneto". It is not open to the public.

References

* {{Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio buildings Serego Palladian villas of Veneto

History

Architecture

Conservation

See also

References