ANDREA PALLADIO

AND VILLA ARCHITECTURE

Andrea Palladio ( 1508-1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in Venetian
Republic. Earlier a stone mason, later on in his architecture, he was inspired greatly by
values of Roman and Greek architecture as outlined by Vitruvius in De architectura.
He is regarded as one of the greatest architects in the history of western art, best known
for his villas (in the Veneto), as well as his palaces (Vicenza) and church (Venice), all
located within Venetian Republic. His architectural theories and teachings were laid out
in his treatise Quattro Libri dell Architettura (The Four Books of Architecture).
The basic elements of Italian Renaissance architecture, including Doric columns, lintels,
cornices, loggias, pediments and domes already existed before Palladio, his contribution
was to refine, simplify and use them in innovative ways.

Palladian Style and Characteristics:

• Palladio was inspired by classical Roman architecture, but he did not slavishly
imitate it. He chose elements and assembled them in innovative ways appropriate
to the site and function of the building.
• Palladian design tends to be highly symmetrical and based on grid system.

Symmetry; Plan of Villa Rotonda

• The style of Palladio employed a classical repertoire of elements in new ways. He

clearly expressed the function of each part of the building by its form, particularly
elevating giving precedence to the piano nobile, the ceremonial floor, of his villas
and palaces.
• His buildings were very often placed on pedestals, raise them up and make them
more visible, and so they could offer a view. The villas very often had loggias,
covered arcades or walkways on the outside of upper levels, which gave a view of
the scenery or city below, and also gave variety to the facade.
• Many of his buildings are of brick covered with stucco. Stucco brickwork was
always used in his villa designs in order to give the appearance of a classical
Roman structure.
• The Serlian window, or Venetian window, also known as a Palladian window, was
another common feature of his style, which he used both for windows and the
arches of the loggias of his buildings. It consists of an arched window flanked by
 two smaller square windows, divided by two columns or pilasters often topped by
a small entablature and by a small circular window or hole, called an oculus.

The Serlian Window

• In his later work, particularly the Palazzo Valmarana and the Palazzo del
Capitaniato in Vicenza, his style became more ornate and more decorative, with
more sculptural decoration on the facade, tending toward Mannerism.
• His buildings served to communicate, visually, their place in the social order of
their culture. This powerful integration of beauty and the physical representation of
social meanings is apparent.

Palladian Villas:
From 1538 to 1570 Palladio designed over 30 villas throughout the Veneto, twenty-four
of which are recorded in the form of drawings in the Four Books of Architecture. Of the
twenty-four villas there are two types - the country villa or farm villa, and the urban villa.
The country villas were composed of a main house and barns, set at the outer ends of
the site. The barns extended from the main house towards the front of the property ending
with a wall and a small opening aligned with the entry of the main house. The area within
the barns was used to grow expensive crops and care for live-stock. Urban villas such as
the Villas Foscari and Rotunda were used for entertainment and as an escape from the
hectic pace city life.
For both the county and urban villa, the main house contained three levels of service.
The main level, or the one elevated from the street level known as the piano noble, was
used for entertainment and as sleeping quarters for the patron. The second floor
contained apartments for servants and storage space for grain. The lower level was used
for cooking, storage and cleaning. Spaces were organized symmetrically around a hall,
such that all spaces on the right were the same as those on the left. Principal spaces
(loggias, halls, and courts) were seen as the most beautiful, to be placed in full view upon
entry.

Examples:
• Villa Capra ‘La Rotonda’:

Villa Rotonda is an example of application of the features of Classic architecture carried

to an extreme by Palladio. The site selected was a hilltop just outside the city of Vicenza.
Unlike some other Palladian villas, 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.

Elevation

The design is for a completely symmetrical building having a square plan with four
facades, each of which has a projecting portico. 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.
To describe the villa, as a whole, as a 'rotonda' is technically incorrect, as the building is
not circular but rather the intersection of a square with a cross. Each portico has steps
leading up, 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 own rules of architecture which he published in the Quattro Libri dell’
Architettura.

Plan

The design reflected the humanist values of Renaissance architecture. 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 pediments graced by statues of classical
deities. 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.
The highlight of the interior is the central, circular hall, surrounded by a balcony and
covered by the domed ceiling and abundant frescos.

Interiors (circular hall) Trompe-l’oeil

• Villa Emo:
Villa Emo is a patrician villa located in the Veneto region of northern Italy, near the village
of Fanzolo di Vedelago and the Province of Treviso. The patron of this villa was Leonardo
Emo.
Villa Emo was a product of Palladio's later period of architecture. It has been praised for
the simple mathematical relationships expressed in its proportions, both in the elevation
and the dimensions of the rooms. Palladio used mathematics to create the ideal villa.
These “harmonic proportions” were a formulation of Palladio's design theory.
The layout of the villa and its estate is strategically placed along the pre-existing roman
grid plan. There is a long rectangular axis that runs across the estate in a north-south
direction. The agricultural crop fields and tree groves were laid out and arranged along
the long axis, as was the villa itself.
The outer appearance of the Villa Emo is marked by a simple treatment of the entire body
of the building, whose structure is determined by a geometrical rhythm. The construction
consists of brick-work with a plaster finish, visible wooden beams seen in the spaces of
the piano nobile, or ground level, and coffered ceilings like that within the loggia.

Plan and Elevation

The central building of the villa is framed by two symmetrical long, lower colonnaded
wings, or barchesses, which originally housed agricultural facilities, like granaries, cellars,
and other service areas. Both wings end with tall dovecotes which are structures that
house nesting holes for domesticated pigeons. An arcade on the wings face the garden,
consisting of columns that have rectangular blocks for bases and capitols.

• Villa Barbaro:

Villa Barbaro, also known as the Villa di Maser, (c. 1560), is a large villa at Maser, Veneto.
Palladio planned the villa on low lines extending into a large park. The ground floor plan
is complex - rectangular with perpendicular rooms on a long axis, the central block
projects and contains the principal reception room. The central block, which is designed
to resemble the portico of a Roman temple, is decorated by four Ionic columns. It is
surmounted by a large pediment with heraldic symbols of the Barbaro family in relief. The
central block is flanked by two symmetrical wings. The wings have two floors but are
fronted by an open arcade.

Usually Palladio designed the wings to provide functional accommodation for agricultural
use. The Villa Barbaro is unusual in having private living quarters on the upper level of
the "barchesse" (that is: the rooms behind the arcades of the two wings).The wings are
terminated by pavilions which feature large sundials set beneath their pediments. The
pavilions were intended to house dovecotes on the uppermost floor, while the rooms
below were for wine-making, stables and domestic use.

Plan of Villa Barbaro

A "Nymphaeum" is located behind the villa. Normally Palladio did not involve himself in
the details of garden design. However at Maser there is a classical garden feature,
a Nymphaeum arching architectural structure frames a natural spring.It has seven figural
statues in niches and four free standing figures.

Nymphaeum at Villa Barbaro

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