Villa Arnaldi is an historical edifice in Meledo di

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 ...

Province of Vicenza The Province of Vicenza ( it, Provincia di Vicenza) is a 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 of 2017). There are 1 ...

, northern Italy, 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 ...

in 1547. It remains unfinished. The modest, incomplete Villa Arnaldi may seem like an unusual candidate for the list of Palladio's villas. It provides evidence, however, of the process usually only visible in final results, the transformation of a pre-existing building into a new

architectural style An architectural style is a set of characteristics and features that make a building or other structure notable or historically identifiable. It is a sub-class of style in the visual arts generally, and most styles in architecture relate closely ...

. In 1547, Vincenzo Arnaldi, one of

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 ...

's richest and most influential citizens, commissioned the architect Andrea Palladio to restructure the 15th century (

Quattrocento The cultural and artistic events of Italy during the period 1400 to 1499 are collectively referred to as the Quattrocento (, , ) from the Italian word for the number 400, in turn from , which is Italian for the year 1400. The Quattrocento encom ...

) agricultural complex upon its acquisition. Arnaldi wished to improve the property in order to increase its value in a

legal action In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

with one of its previous owners. However, when Arnaldi reached an agreement in 1565, he stopped the reconstruction and simply rented it out. A series of signed drawings allow us to follow the architect's ideas for remodelling the irregular Quattrocento complex. He proposed reconfiguring the buildings into regular shapes to define its farmyard and creating a

symmetry Symmetry (from grc, συμμετρία "agreement in dimensions, due proportion, arrangement") in everyday language refers to a sense of harmonious and beautiful proportion and balance. In mathematics, "symmetry" has a more precise definit ...

within the spatial layout of the house. He organized the house itself around a

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 ...

with three arches and minor, rectangular openings on its flanks (still extant though now blocked), and framed its windows with his usual mouldings. File:Villa Arnaldi 20070717-3.jpg, Detail of the blind arches File:Villa Arnaldi Meledo pianta Verlato 1998.jpg, Floor plan, relief (Verlato 1998) File:Villa Arnaldi Meledo schizzo Palladio 1547-48.jpg, Sketch by the hand of Andrea Palladio, 1547–48. Vicenza, Biblioteca Civica Bertoliana

External links

Villa Arnaldi in CISA website
(source for the first revision of this article, with kind permission) {{coord, 45.4167, N, 11.4000, E, source:wikidata, display=title Houses completed in the 16th century Andrea Palladio buildings Province of Vicenza Arnaldi Unfinished buildings and structures

See also

External links