Palazzo Thiene is a 15th-16th-century 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 for Marcantonio and Adriano

Thiene Thiene () is a city and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza, in northern Italy, located approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. __NOTOC__ The city has an active and lively industrial sector, composed mainly of small to medium-sized comp ...

, probably by

Giulio Romano Giulio Romano (, ; – 1 November 1546), is the acquired name of Giulio Pippi, who was an Italian painter and architect. He was a pupil of Raphael, and his stylistic deviations from High Renaissance classicism help define the sixteenth-centu ...

, in 1542,Andrew Hopkins, 2002. ''Italian Architecture from Michelangelo to Borromini''; p. 21. and revised during construction from 1544 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 ...

. In 1994, the palace was included in the "Vicenza, city of Palladio"

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 ...

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 ...

. In 1996, the World Heritage Site was renamed "

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 " ...

", and it was expanded to include outlying villas (one of which is the Thiene brothers' country home, the

Villa Thiene Villa Thiene is a 16th-century villa at Quinto Vicentino in the province of Vicenza. The building as it stands today is the work of several architects one of whom was Andrea Palladio. Like several other projects on which Palladio worked, it was ...

). The palace is used as the historic headquarters of a bank and it also hosts some exhibitions and culture events. The palazzo was the headquarters of

Banca Popolare di Vicenza Banca Popolare di Vicenza (BPVi) was an Italian bank and currently a winding-down company. The banking group along was the 15th-largest retail and corporate bank of Italy by total assets at 31 December 2016, according to Mediobanca. However, its si ...

History

The original Gothic palace was committed by Lodovico Thiene to Lorenzo da Bologna in 1490, with an East front made of bricks squared by angular

lesene A lesene, also called a pilaster strip, is an architectural term for a narrow, low-relief vertical pillar on a wall. It resembles a pilaster, but does not have a base or capital. It is typical in Lombardic and Rijnlandish architectural building s ...

s worked at "diamond edge", with a portal by Tommaso da Lugano and a triple window (

trifora Trifora is a type of three-light window. The trifora usually appears in towers and belfries—on the top floors, where it is necessary to lighten the structure with wider openings. Overview The trifora has three openings divided by two small colu ...

) made in rose marble. In October 1542, Marcantonio and Adriano Thiene began to remodel their 15th century (Quattrocento) family

palace A palace is a grand residence, especially a royal residence, or the home of a head of state or some other high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome which ...

in a grandiose project, which would have occupied an entire city block of 54 x 62 metres and faced onto Vicenza's principal artery (today's Corso Palladio). The rich, powerful and sophisticated Thiene brothers belonged to that great Italian

nobility Nobility is a social class found in many societies that have an aristocracy (class), aristocracy. It is normally ranked immediately below Royal family, royalty. Nobility has often been an Estates of the realm, estate of the realm with many e ...

which could move with ease among Europe's most important

court A court is any person or institution, often as a government institution, with the authority to adjudicate legal disputes between parties and carry out the administration of justice in civil, criminal, and administrative matters in accordance ...

s; they therefore required a domestic stage adequate for the cosmopolitan expectations of their guests who might visit them. At the same time, as exponents of a well-defined, political faction in the city's

aristocracy Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'. At t ...

, they desired a princely palace to emphasise their proper role in the city itself, as the sign of their quasi-seigniorial power. When in 1614 the young English architect

Inigo Jones Inigo Jones (; 15 July 1573 – 21 June 1652) was the first significant architect in England and Wales in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings. As the most notable archit ...

visited the palace, he noted down information directly garnered from

Vincenzo Scamozzi Vincenzo Scamozzi (2 September 1548 – 7 August 1616) was an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure th ...

and

Palma il Giovane Iacopo Negretti (1548/50 – 14 October 1628), best known as Jacopo or Giacomo Palma il Giovane or simply Palma Giovane ("Young Palma"), was an Italian painter from Venice and a notable exponent of the Venetian school. After Tintoretto's death ...

: "this project was made by

and executed by Palladio". Most probably, in fact, the original conception of the Palazzo Thiene should be attributed to the mature and expert Giulio Romano (from 1573 at the

Mantua Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name. In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...

n court of the Gonzagas, with whom the Thiene enjoyed the closest rapport) and the young Palladio should be held responsible rather for the executive design and execution of the building, a role which became ever more essential after Giulio's death in 1546. The elements of the palace, which are attributable to Giulio and alien to Palladio's vocabulary, are clearly recognisable: the four-column

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 ...

is substantially identical with that of the

Palazzo Te or is a palace in the suburbs of Mantua, Italy. It is a fine example of the mannerist style of architecture, and the acknowledged masterpiece of Giulio Romano. Although formed in Italian, the usual name in English of Palazzo del Te is not that ...

(even if Palladio indubitably modified its

vaulting In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while rin ...

system); also Giulian are the windows and the ground storey facades onto the street and

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 ...

, while Palladio must have been defined the upper storey trabeation and capitals. Works began on the building in 1542. In December of the same year, Giulio Romano visited Vicenza for two weeks as a consultant on the loggias for the Basilica. Probably on this occasion he supplied the outline project for the Palazzo Thiene. But works proceeded slowly: on the external facade is inscribed the date 1556, and in the courtyard 1558. In 1552, Adriano Thiene died in France and thereafter, when Marcantonio's son Giulio became

marchese A marquess (; french: marquis ), es, marqués, pt, marquês. is a nobleman of high hereditary rank in various European peerages and in those of some of their former colonies. The German language equivalent is Markgraf (margrave). A woman wi ...

Scandiano Scandiano ( Reggiano: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, in the northeast part of the country of Italy, near the city of Reggio nell'Emilia and the Secchia river. It had a population of 25,663 as of 31 December 2016. History The cur ...

, family interests gradually shifted to

Ferrara Ferrara (, ; egl, Fràra ) is a city and ''comune'' in Emilia-Romagna, northern Italy, capital of the Province of Ferrara. it had 132,009 inhabitants. It is situated northeast of Bologna, on the Po di Volano, a branch channel of the main stream ...

. As a result, only a small portion of the grandiose project was ever realised, but probably neither the Venetians nor the other Vicentine nobles would have accepted such a grandiose private enclave in the centre of their city.

Gallery

PalazzoThiene20070705-01.jpg, The Gothic facade of the palace, facing on Contra' Porti Palazzo Thiene Vicenza 54 (8188172884).jpg, The Gothic facade of the palace, facing on Contra' Porti PalazzoThiene20070705-05.jpg, The entrance from the 16th century facade PalazzoThiene20070705-04.jpg, Detail of the upper storey trabeation and capitals, by Palladio

References

Sources

Palazzo Thiene in the CISA website
(source for the first revision of this article, with kind permission)

External links

* {{Authority control Houses completed in the 15th century

Renaissance architecture in Vicenza World Heritage Sites in Italy Andrea Palladio buildings

History

Gallery

See also

References

Sources

External links