Villa Trissino is an incomplete

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 ...

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 ...

, situated in the hamlet of Meledo in the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' of

Sarego Sarego is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, Veneto, north-eastern Italy. It is southwest of Vicenza. SP500 goes through the town of Sarego. Main sights In the ''frazione'' of Meledo, there are two incomplete villas designed by A ...

in the

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

, 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 re ...

. It was intended for the brothers Ludovico and Francesco Trissino. It is not to be confused with Villa Trissino at Cricoli, which is 20 km away, just outside

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 ...

History

Palladio included the project in book two of 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 ...

'', published in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

in 1570. In the ''Quattro libri'', Palladio affirms that he had begun the construction of a villa at Meledo for the brothers Ludovico and Francesco Trissino, ranking figures in the aristocracy of Vicenza and Palladio’s patrons not only at Meledo but also at their city palace in the Contra’ Riale (1558) and at a small suburban casino. Palladio refers to the building as having been begun, and praises the site which includes a small hill. However, it is debatable how much of the multi-level design illustrated in the book was constructed – probably only a small part of the design was ever attempted.CISA A. Palladio 2008
This did not prevent the plan from being influential:

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 18 ...

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

shows some similarities to it. A number of Palladian villas differ from the illustrations in the ''Quattro libri''. For example, at

Villa Saraceno Villa Saraceno is a Palladian Villa in Agugliaro, Province of Vicenza, northern Italy. It was commissioned by the patrician Saraceno family. History Villa Saraceno has been dated to the 1540s, which makes it one of Andrea Palladio's earlier w ...

there is a Palladian house, but not the wings of the design published in 1570, and

Villa Serego Villa Serego or Villa Sarego is a Palladian villa at Santa Sofia di Pedemonte, San Pietro in Cariano in the province of Verona, northern Italy. It was built for the aristocratic Sarego family, and designed by Italian Renaissance architect Andrea ...

is also incomplete. At Villa Trissino, the visitor will find no Palladian house, only the start of the two extending wings can be seen. There is also a small rusticated gateway which recalls the Villa Serego.

Architecture

The treatise engraving restores to us a view of an imposing structure, arranged on several levels, obviously inspired by the disposition of ancient Roman acropolis complexes. It is not possible to affirm whether this project had any practical outcome. On the other hand, evident traces of the beginning of the a Palladian project do exist in the imposing stone foundations of buildings along the river and in the two barchesse with Tuscan columns of fine workmanship. The most economic hypothesis would be that a project by Palladio existed for the Villa Trissino, although not necessarily identical to that presented in the ''Quattro libri''. The latter seems rather to be the development of a theoretical scheme hypothetically conceived for the real site of Meledo. Villa Trissino, like most of the Palladian villas, was to be the centre of an agricultural estate built for an aristocratic family. What survives at Meledo is two sections of the villa's extending

colonnade In classical architecture, a colonnade is a long sequence of columns joined by their entablature, often free-standing, or part of a building. Paired or multiple pairs of columns are normally employed in a colonnade which can be straight or curv ...

, which would have been used for the utilitarian functions, something like a farmyard.

Dovecote

At the end of the wing in the photo there is a dovecote, a feature also found at

Villa Barbaro Villa Barbaro, also known as the Villa di Maser, is a large villa at Maser in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It was designed and built by the Italian Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio, with frescos by Paolo Veronese and sculptures by Al ...

. The dovecote of Villa Trissino is decorated with

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 ...

es, indicating that even within the utilitarian portions of the villa, great care was given to create aesthetic beauty. The dovecote tower was frescoed with

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

s by

Eliodoro Forbicini Eliodoro Forbicini (born 1533), who flourished from 1550 to 1570, was a native of Verona, who excelled in grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective ...

Veronese Veronese is the Italian word denoting someone or something from Verona, Italy and may refer to: * Veronese Riddle, a popular riddle in the Middle Ages * ''Veronese'' (moth), a moth genus in the family Crambidae * Monte Veronese, an Italian chees ...

painter mentioned by

Vasari Giorgio Vasari (, also , ; 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance Master, who worked as a painter, architect, engineer, writer, and historian, who is best known for his work ''The Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculpt ...

), who also worked in Palladio’s

Palazzo Chiericati The Palazzo Chiericati is a Renaissance palace in Vicenza (northern Italy), designed by Andrea Palladio. History Palladio was asked to design and build the palazzo by Count Girolamo Chiericati. The architect started building the palace in 1 ...

and

Palazzo Thiene Palazzo Thiene is a 15th-16th-century palace in Vicenza, northern Italy, designed for Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene, probably by Giulio Romano, in 1542,Andrew Hopkins, 2002. ''Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini''; p. 21. and revi ...

. It is an evident sign that the building’s function was not just utilitarian.

Conservation status

In 1996, Villa Trissino was designated as part of 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 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 " ...

".UNESCO
Website for the World Heritage Site The buildings are in a poor state of conservation.

Gallery

Image:ArcadeVillaTrissino Meledo 2007 07 06 2.jpg, Rear view Image:Villa Trissino Meledo Quattro Libri.jpg, Projected Villa Trissino: woodcut from ''

'' by Palladio (1570) File:Fotothek df tg 0001692 Architektur ^ Bauwesen ^ Gebäude.jpg,

References

External links

Villa Trissino in CISA website
(source for the Palladian project, with kind permission) {{Andrea Palladio Agricultural buildings in Italy Andrea Palladio buildings

Trissino Trissino ( vec, Trisino) is a ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, in northern Italy. Its mayor is Davide Faccio (member of Lega Nord, right). The town is famous all over Italy for its hockey team, the Gruppo Sportivo Hockey Trissino. Twin t ...

Unfinished buildings and structures Palladian villas of Veneto