Villa Piovene is a Palladian villa built in Lugo di Vicenza,

province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a Provinces of Italy, 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 o ...

, northern Italy. The building was commissioned in the 16th century for the aristocratic Venetian Piovene family, their architect believed to have been

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 ...

. It is part of the World Heritage Site " City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto" since 1996.

History

Villa Piovene was built around 1539–40 in competition to and within the immediate vicinity of

Villa Godi A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became s ...

, which rises only a few hundred metres. Rivalries have been proven to exist between the Piovene and Godi noble families. The villa was the ambitions of Battista Piovene and his son Tommaso Piovene, the latter was probably responsible for commissioning the structure. The Piovene family seemed less interested in matching the size of Villa Godi as they were in the choice of the artisan workshop carrying out the work, that of Giovanni di Giacomo da Porlezza, who also was responsible for the execution of Villa Godi, of the Pedemuro workshop, where

was employed. More doubts than certainties surround Palladio's involvement in the execution of the Villa. First of all, the building was not included in the '' Quattro libri dell'architettura'' (published 1570), although other certainly autograph villas were also excluded (such as the Villa Gazzotti or the Villa Valmarana at Vigardolo). But it is the characteristics of the building itself which are most perplexing: the plan is hardly sophisticated, the windows pierce the

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

without any particular order, and the pronaos is awkwardly joined to the building block.

Architecture

The villa is certainly the product of three campaigns of work: documents demonstrate the existence of a manorial house, smaller than the present one and certainly constructed before 1541, which was enlarged at a later stage by the addition of the

pronaos 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 ...

bearing the inscribed date 1587: so the

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 ...

that projects in the center—six Ionic columns supporting a triangular

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

—may have begun by Palladio around 1570 and completed after his death. The extension of the mansion and the vertical window rhythms can also be assumed to have taken place within the 1570s in accordance with Palladio's wishes, though not carried out by him. Finally, in the first half of the 18th century, the architect

Francesco Muttoni Francesco Muttoni (January 22, 1669 – February 21, 1747) was an Italian architect, engineer, and architectural writer, mainly active near Vicenza, Italy. Biography He was born in Lacima, near Porlezza, on Lake Lugano __NOTOC__ Lake Lugano ( i ...

constructed the actual lateral '' barchesse'' (side farm wings), laid out the garden and probably executed the double-ramp stairs which lead to the loggia. The scenographic stair by which one accedes to the villa, however, was certainly realised some years prior together with the handsome gate of 1703. Today, the villa is seen against a

picturesque Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced into English cultural debate in 1782 by William Gilpin in ''Observations on the River Wye, and Several Parts of South Wales, etc. Relative Chiefly to Picturesque Beauty; made in the Summer of the Year ...

backdrop of a garden, which was laid out in the 19th century, situated in the plain of the Astico River. 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 building within the World Heritage Site " City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto". File:Villa Piovene Lonedo pianta Bertotti Scamozzi 1778.jpg, Floor plan (drawing by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1778) File:Villa Piovene Lonedo sezione Bertotti Scamozzi 1778.jpg, Main facade (drawing by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1778)

References

Villa Piovene
in the CISA (Centro internazionale di studi di architettura Andrea Palladio) website * {{Andrea Palladio Andrea Palladio buildings Villas in Veneto, Piovene Palladian villas of Veneto

History

Architecture

See also

References