Villa La Rotonda is a

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

just outside

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; or , archaically ) 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 Bacchiglione. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and e ...

Northern Italy Northern Italy (, , ) is a geographical and cultural region in the northern part of Italy. The Italian National Institute of Statistics defines the region as encompassing the four Northwest Italy, northwestern Regions of Italy, regions of Piedmo ...

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 on ...

, and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1590s. The villa's official name is Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rotonda", "Villa Capra", and "Villa Almerico Capra". The name ''Capra'' derives from the Capra brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them in 1592. Along with other works by Palladio, the building is conserved as part of the

World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

" City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".

Inspiration

In 1565 a priest, Paolo Almerico, on his retirement from the

Vatican Vatican may refer to: Geography * Vatican City, an independent city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy * Vatican Hill, in Rome, namesake of Vatican City * Ager Vaticanus, an alluvial plain in Rome * Vatican, an unincorporated community in the ...

(as referendario apostolico of

Pope Pius IV Pope Pius IV (; 31 March 1499 – 9 December 1565), born Giovanni Angelo Medici, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 25 December 1559 to his death, in December 1565. Born in Milan, his family considered itself a b ...

and afterwards Pius V), returned to his home town of

in the Venetian countryside and built a country house. This house, later known as 'La Rotonda', was to be one of Palladio's best-known legacies to the architectural world. Villa Capra may have inspired a thousand subsequent buildings, but the villa was itself inspired by the Pantheon in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Design

The site selected was a hilltop just outside the city of Vicenza. Unlike some other Palladian villas of the Veneto, the building was not designed from the start to accommodate a working farm. This sophisticated building was designed for a site which was, in modern terminology, "suburban". Palladio classed the building as a " palazzo" rather than a villa. The design is for a completely symmetrical building having a square plan with four facades, each of which has a projecting

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 cu ...

. The whole is contained within an imaginary circle which touches each corner of the building and centres of the porticos (''illustration, left''). The name ''La Rotonda'' refers to the central circular hall with its

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

. To describe the villa, as a whole, as a rotunda is technically incorrect, as the building is not circular but rather the intersection of a

square In geometry, a square is a regular polygon, regular quadrilateral. It has four straight sides of equal length and four equal angles. Squares are special cases of rectangles, which have four equal angles, and of rhombuses, which have four equal si ...

with a

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

. Each portico has steps leading up to it, and opens via a small cabinet or corridor to the circular domed central hall. This and all other rooms were proportioned with mathematical precision according to Palladio's rules of architecture which he published in '' I quattro libri dell'architettura''. Work spaces for the villa's servants are hidden underneath the first floor, which is accessed via staircases hidden inside the walls of the central hall. The design reflected the

humanist Humanism is a philosophical stance that emphasizes the individual and social potential, and agency of human beings, whom it considers the starting point for serious moral and philosophical inquiry. The meaning of the term "humanism" ha ...

values of

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. In order for each room to have some sun, the design was rotated 45 degrees from each cardinal point of the compass. Each of the four porticos has

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

s graced by statues of classical

deities A deity or god is a supernatural being considered to be sacred and worthy of worship due to having authority over some aspect of the universe and/or life. The ''Oxford Dictionary of English'' defines ''deity'' as a God (male deity), god or god ...

. The pediments were each supported by six Ionic columns. Each portico was flanked by a single window. All principal rooms were on the second floor or ''

piano nobile ( Italian for "noble floor" or "noble level", also sometimes referred to by the corresponding French term, ) is the architectural term for the principal floor of a '' palazzo''. This floor contains the main reception and bedrooms of the house ...

''. Building began in 1567. Neither Palladio nor the owner, Paolo Almerico, were to see the completion of the villa. Palladio died in 1580 and a second architect,

Vincenzo Scamozzi Vincenzo Scamozzi (2 September 1548 – 7 August 1616) was an Italians, 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 importan ...

, was employed by the new owners to oversee the completion. One of the major changes he made to the original plan was to modify the two-storey central hall. Palladio had intended it to be covered by a high semi-circular dome but Scamozzi designed a lower dome with an oculus (intended to be open to the sky) inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. The dome was ultimately completed with a

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout. The word derives, via Ital ...

Interior

The interior design of the Villa was to be as wonderful, if not more so, than the exterior. Alessandro, Giovanni Battista Maganza, and Anselmo Canera were commissioned to paint frescoes in the principal salons. Among the four principal salons on the ''piano nobile'' are the West Salon (also called the Holy Room, because of the religious nature of its frescoes and ceiling), and the East Salon, which contains an allegorical life story of the first owner, Paolo Almerico, his many admirable qualities portrayed in fresco. The highlight of the interior is the central, circular hall, surrounded by a balcony and covered by the domed ceiling; it soars the full height of the main house up to the cupola, with walls decorated in ''

trompe-l'œil ; ; ) is an artistic term for the highly realistic optical illusion of three-dimensional space and objects on a Two-dimensional space, two-dimensional surface. , which is most often associated with painting, tricks the viewer into perceiving p ...

''. Abundant frescoes create an atmosphere that is more reminiscent of a cathedral than the principal salon of a country house.

Landscape

Sitting under the shade in front of Villa Capra detta La Rotonda

From the porticos, views of the surrounding countryside can be seen; this is purposeful as the Villa was designed to be in harmony with the landscape. This was in contrast to such buildings as Villa Farnese of just 16 years earlier. While the house appears to be completely symmetrical, it actually has deviations, designed to allow each

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

to complement the surrounding landscape and topography. Hence, there are variations in the façades, in the width of steps, retaining walls, etc. In this way, the symmetry of the architecture allows for the asymmetry of the landscape, and creates a seemingly symmetrical whole. The landscape is a panoramic vision of trees, meadows and woods, with Vicenza on the horizon. The northwest portico is set onto the hill as the termination of a straight carriage drive from the principal gates. This carriageway is an avenue between the service blocks, built by the Capra brothers, who acquired the Villa in 1591; they commissioned

to complete the villa and construct the range of staff and agricultural buildings.

Current conditions

In 1994

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

designated the building as part of a

. A former family owner of the villa was Mario di Valmarana (1929–2010), a former professor of architecture at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

. It was his declared ambition to preserve Villa Rotonda so that it may be appreciated by future generations. His brother was Lodovico Valmarana (1926–2018), Count of Valmarana and Nogara, whose father Count Andrea Valmarana (1891–1976) purchased the villa in 1912, with the villa now owned by Lodovico's son, Count Nicolò Valmarana. The interior is open to the public Friday through Sunday, and the grounds are open every day.

Film

In 1979 the American film director

Joseph Losey Joseph Walton Losey III (; January 14, 1909 – June 22, 1984) was an American film and theatre director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Wisconsin, he studied in Germany with Bertolt Brecht and then returned to the United States. Hollywood ...

filmed

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

's opera ''

Don Giovanni ''Don Giovanni'' (; K. 527; full title: , literally ''The Rake Punished, or Don Giovanni'') is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. Its subject is a centuries-old Spanish legen ...

'' in Villa La Rotonda and the Veneto region of Italy. The film was nominated for several

César Awards The César Award is the national film award of France. It is delivered in the ' ceremony and was first awarded in 1976. The nominations are selected by the members of twelve categories of filmmaking professionals and supported by the French Min ...

in 1980 including Best Director, and has generally been praised as one of the finer cinematic adaptations of opera.

Photo gallery

Image:Villa Rotonda front.jpg, Front Image:Villa Rotonda side.jpg, Side Image:Villa La Rotonda.JPG, Service corridor leading up to building

Image:Rotonda mantle02.jpg, carved marble fireplace mantel over a fireplace Image:Rotonda broken pediment.jpg, Open pediment over doorway Image:Rotonda ceiling.jpg, Ornamental moldings and

fresco Fresco ( 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 plaster, the painting become ...

painting Image:Palladio Rotonda seccion Scamozzi 1778.jpg, Palladio: ''I quattro libri'' Image:Palladio Rotonda planta Scamozzi 1778.jpg, Palladio: ''I quattro libri''

Influences

England

Five houses have been built in England based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda: Henbury Hall, Cheshire, is the most recent;

Chiswick House Chiswick House is a Neo-Palladian style villa in the Chiswick district of London, England. A "glorious" example of Neo-Palladian architecture in west London, the house was designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington (1694–1753 ...

, Greater London, and Mereworth Castle, Kent, are protected as

listed buildings In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

; Foots Cray Place, Kent, and Nuthall Temple, Nottinghamshire have been demolished. One of the earliest Palladian villas in the north of England is Rokeby Park.

Palestinian Territories

The "House of Palestine" (''Bayt al-Filastin''), built at the top of biblical

Mount Gerizim Mount Gerizim ( ; ; ; , or ) is one of two mountains in the immediate vicinity of the State of Palestine, Palestinian city of Nablus and the biblical city of Shechem. It forms the southern side of the valley in which Nablus is situated, the nor ...

, which towers over the Palestinian city of

Nablus Nablus ( ; , ) is a State of Palestine, Palestinian city in the West Bank, located approximately north of Jerusalem, with a population of 156,906. Located between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim, it is the capital of the Nablus Governorate and a ...

, north of

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, closely resembles the Villa Rotonda. It is owned by

Palestinian Palestinians () are an Arab ethnonational group native to the Levantine region of Palestine. *: "Palestine was part of the first wave of conquest following Muhammad's death in 632 CE; Jerusalem fell to the Caliph Umar in 638. The indigenous p ...

millionaire Munib al-Masri.

Poland

Palaces built in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda include the Królikarnia (Rabbit House) Palace, the Belweder in

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

and the Skórzewski Palace in

Lubostroń Lubostroń is a village in the administrative district of Gmina Łabiszyn, within Żnin County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, in north-central Poland. It lies approximately south of Łabiszyn, north-east of Żnin, and south of Bydgoszcz. ...

Belarus

The interior of the main building of the Gomel Palace in

Gomel Gomel (, ) or Homyel (, ) is a city in south-eastern Belarus. It serves as the administrative centre of Gomel Region and Gomel District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it is the List of cities and largest ...

in the Eastern

Belarus Belarus, officially the Republic of Belarus, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by Russia to the east and northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Belarus spans an a ...

is based on Villa Rotonda.

Ukraine

The Cathedral of Transfiguration of Bolgrad in southwestern Ukraine, designed by architect Avraam Melnikov and build in 1833-1838, is inspired by Villa Rotonda.

United States

For the competition to design the President's House in

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

anonymously submitted a design that was a variation on the Villa Rotonda. Though James Hoban's

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 ...

design for what would become known as the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

was selected, the influence of the Villa Rotonda can also be seen at Jefferson's own iconic home of

Monticello Monticello ( ) was the primary residence and plantation of Thomas Jefferson, a Founding Father, author of the Declaration of Independence, and the third president of the United States. Jefferson began designing Monticello after inheriting l ...

References

Sources

*dal Lago, Adalbert (1969). ''Villas and Palaces of Europe''. Paul Hamlyn, .

External links

Official website
in English
Description of the building written by the Palladio Museum in Vicenza

*[http://slurl.com/secondlife/Melioria/141/211/23/?img=http%3A//lh5.ggpht.com/_IqFPI3bgF78/Sp9KDaTE8tI/AAAAAAAAAGg/v3TteCorAag/s288/villa-vesuviana-dedication-pic.png&title=An%20interpretation%20of%20the%20Villa%20Capra%20%22La%20Rotonda%22%20in%20Second%20Life&msg=Virtually%20visit%20an%20interpretation%20of%20the%20Villa%20Capra%20%22La%20Rotonda%22%20in%20Second%20Life. Virtually visit an interpretation of the Villa Capra in Second Life.]
Architectural analysis of Villa Capra
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Capra La Rotonda Buildings and structures completed in 1592 Houses completed in the 16th century Renaissance architecture in Vicenza Capra World Heritage Sites in Italy Andrea Palladio buildings Domes Rotundas in Europe Museums in Veneto Historic house museums in Italy Palladian villas of Veneto