The Wing of the Villa Thiene is a construction 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 ...

, located in Cicogna, a hamlet 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

Villafranca Padovana Villafranca Padovana is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about west of Venice and about northwest of Padua. Villafranca Padovana borders the following municipalities: Campodoro, Limena, M ...

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 ...

region of

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 ...

. The ''barchessa'' (wing) which exists today was only part of an ambitious project drawn up by Andrea Palladio for Francesco Thiene and his sons Odoardo and Teodoro.

History

In '' I quattro libri dell'architettura'' (1570) Palladio states that it was Francesco who initiated building works, and since he died in 1556 it is probable that Palladio’s project must have been conceived previously. In 1563, building works were in full swing, and a map dating from the following year well represents the state of the works which would halt in 1567, when Odoardo hastily abandoned

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 ...

fleeing into

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

territory for religious reasons. Andrea Palladio was probably Odoardo’s personal friend, since he actually assisted him at the alarming moment of his flight, and witnessed the notarial act which nominated Odoardo’s brother Teodoro trustee of the properties he necessarily abandoned behind him.

Architecture

The project for Villa Thiene is documented by an

engraving Engraving is the practice of incising a design onto a hard, usually flat surface by cutting grooves into it with a Burin (engraving), burin. The result may be a decorated object in itself, as when silver, gold, steel, or Glass engraving, glass ...

in the ''Quattro libri''; decidedly ambitious, it was characterised by a great loggia with a giant order, enclosed between

tower A tower is a tall Nonbuilding structure, structure, taller than it is wide, often by a significant factor. Towers are distinguished from guyed mast, masts by their lack of guy-wires and are therefore, along with tall buildings, self-supporting ...

s arranged at the building’s four angles. A drawing by Marcantonio Palladio of the realised ''

barchessa A barchessa is a rural service building, typical of the architecture of Venetian villas. The concept was created and popularized by architect Andrea Palladio. A barchessa contains the working portions of the estate, separately from the central b ...

'' exists, which is extremely close to the executed form. Both ''barchesse'' of the project should have been connected to the lordly house by two curvilinear

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 ...

s, identical to those designed by Palladio in 1554 for the Villa Badoer at Fratta Polesine. File:Villa Thiene Cicogna pianta prospetto Quattro Libri.jpg, Villa Thiene in '' I quattro libri dell'architettura'' File:Villa Thiene Cicogna sezione.jpg, Cross section (drawing by Ottavio Bertotti Scamozzi, 1781)

References

External links

Barchessa of the Villa Thiene in CISA website
{{Authority control Houses completed in 1567 Thiene (Cicogna) Unfinished buildings and structures Renaissance architecture in Veneto Houses in Italy Andrea Palladio buildings 1567 establishments in the Republic of Venice

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links