Palladio’s Villas in the Veneto – Walking Tour of Vicenza

My last guided tour of Vicenza (pop 110,563 in 2025) was given by a local architect. It was a for just the afternoon, and was a treat arranged by our friend who was, at the time, a bride to be. The other guests, who were friends and family of the bride and groom, had not set out to delve deep into architectural history, but the tour was very good.

It is interesting now to be on tour with an architectural historian – a British historian as opposed to an Italian architect. I can imagine the pride and pressure that an architect in Vicenza might shoulder, after all, this is the town of Andrea Palladio. At the same time, a British historian's focus might be to place Palladio and his architecture into a timeline, or into some relatable context.

The audience matters, and of course, the presenter matters, too.

As an architect, I am fascinated by design: the form, the materials, the corners and connections. As an architect on a tour (who has also given tours), I am as much a cheerleader as a participant. I love this stuff, so fair warning, things are about to get 'nerdy' …

Palazzo Porto Breganze e Palazzo Bonin-Longare

Like our first site on this tour, the Villa Trissino in Meledo (c1553-67), the Palazzo Porto Breganze (c1571) is just a fragment. The Palazzo exists as a building 'slice' at the south end of Vicenza's Piazza Castello, just two of the original seven bays. This includes the three western-most columns of a 'giant' Composite order, set upon tall plinths and with a rusticated base.

The clean edge of the building makes it clear, this is the last bay, to the east there is ragged brickwork where the next bay would have been. Note the entablature above the column, where three brackets face forward. The next pair turn ninety degrees in each direction and pick up the surface and lines of the fascia behind. Then four brackets are in the recessed section with just enough room for the rosettes to turn the corners. The dressed edge picks up all these moldings and resolves them with a 'wrap-around' detail.

Side views are in my previous post: east and west.

A small gargoyle is in the center of the cornice above each column. Swags of bundled fruit bind the capitals together. And the scale is extraordinary – the street furniture gives some idea.

 

The Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare (c1572) is diagonally opposite and is the complete seven-bay block. This Palazzo is the first building on the north side of the Corso Andrea Palladio, and its 'side facade' faces the Piazza.

The design is Palladio, but Vincenzo Scamozzi get credit for completing the building. Interesting then, to compare the way the classical components turn the corner. Rather and a giant order, this is Composite over Corinthian. Rather than 'wrapping' the lines are 'chopped'; the brackets and the dentils turn into the facade and just stop. This leaves the west elevation looking unfinished.

The gates in the front arch are open, so we walk through to the back, where seven bays are now nine. The extra-wide central bay has stacked arches, while the other eight bays are squeezed. The last column on each side is a shallow pilaster, barely visible. And the western facade extends past it. The two systems don't align, and they run into each other, awkwardly behind a downspout, at the inside corner.

 

 

 

 

Even the arches at the back don't 'fit' nearly as well as the one in front. They seem to have barged between the columns and shoved them aside, disturbing their proportional spacing. Recall that Palladio was a scalpellino (stonecutter) – a good scalpellino does not have leave things unresolved.

Chiesa di San Marcello and Duomo di Vicenza

On the Corso, the Chiesa di San Marcello (1730-47) is just three buildings down from the Palazzo. The architect is Giorgio Massari, who also designed the Chiesa dei Gesuati (1725-43) across from Il Redentore in Venice. Here, Massari plays with the double temple-front with the whole thing lifted on a plinth like San Francesco della Vigna.

The swags provide a measure for the minor order, whose central pilasters must be hidden behind the giant order, but peek out below the lower gables and then double up at the corner. Imagine being an architect in Palladio's hometown, playing palladio-like tricks with the classical orders. The church looks very good and holds its own on the Corso.

We make a stop at the Duomo di Vicenza (15h century) to looks at the cupola (dome, 1557-66) by Palladio, as well as this side door, the Portale Settentrionale, installed between the chapels, near the north transept (above). The door is dedicated to Paolo Almerico, the patron of La Rotonda.

"DEIPARÆ ANNUNCIATIONI ECCLESIÆ TITULO PAULLUS ALMERICUS D"

 

Perhaps there is a lesson, in the ways Massari and Scamozzi, on the one hand pay homage to Palladio, and on the other try to 'correct' him. The two approaches and designs provide very different outcomes, and having this concentration of work allows us to compare.

In this way, Vicenza is not only 'the city of Palladio', but also an important testing ground for other architects – a legacy that is also a great benefit to the town.

Palazzo Valmarana

The Palazzo Valmarana (1565) is one of Palladio's most creative efforts. Sited on a narrow lane, he layers a lot of elements in low relief to create a dynamic street facade. The upper Composite order comprises five bays, and the lower Corinthian order extends an additional bay. To fill the extra upper bay, Palladio adds a pair of caryatids to support the entablature. This extra bay is further differentiated by the projecting cornice of the minor order, which then forms the base of the plinth for the statuary. 

Because the pilasters cannot project further toward the street, the brackets turn as before but lay flat against the profile of the cornice. The next bracket has just enough room to continue without breaking rhythm. The same detail is used at the southern end, above the female figure. But the cornice at the northern end literally overlaps its neighbor – an apparent property line dispute.

All this rests on a rusticated base, broken only by the double-height central arch.

 

 

 

The courtyard is Ionic, complicated only by the unusual supports projecting from the frieze and cornice. The architrave is continuous as is the balcony above. There's more trouble with the northern neighbor, as the balcony does not wrap on that side, and the enclosing eastern side is missing altogether.

Jagged brickwork suggests the incomplete eastern wall, but our tour Director assures us this was added later, during repair work after bombing in the war. It seems a strange thing to add to a wall, especially with the 'gapped tooth' corner blocks that would have supported the balcony.

Palazzo Pojana e Palazzo Trissino

At the other extreme, the Palazzo Pojana (c1560) precedes the Palazzo Valmarana by just a few years but employs a clean Composite order on a rusticated lower floor. Balconies reach out to the Corso, and the central arch accommodates a street, the Contrà do Rode.

Nearby, the Palazzo Trissino (c1588) by Scamozzi is now the Comune (town hall, note the banner). Here, the interior courtyard is Tuscan with a continuous ironwork balcony – interesting the way the corner block is turned on the diagonal.

Scamozzi employs quarter-round columns in the corners, and there is a tightness to the way the windows above turn, as if the corner needs more relief. Because the central bay is exaggerated, the spacing feels inconsistent with just that sliver of a column at the edge. On the other hand, the peculiar mix of full and three-quarter round shapes is intriguing. And Palladio's window spacing often looks unbalanced when he allows for chimneys and so on.

[Apologies for the lack of pictures; the Palazzo is now the city hall; car and bike traffic is persistent.] 

Palazzo Iseppo Porto

Palazzo Iseppo Porto (c1544) is another project by the Porto family left unfinished. However, the building is now part of an apartment complex, including a new courtyard over a parking garage, and looks clean and in good repair.

The full project is in I Quattro Libri (click here for drawing). More images available here and on wikimedia here.

Palazzo Barbarano (Palladio Museum)

Our last stop before lunch is the Palazzo Barbarano (1569-75), which is also the home of the Palladio Museum. The Palazzo makes an excellent museum, though any decorations on the walls are covered, the ceilings are exposed, and we get some impression of the grandeur of the palace.

I am captivated by the courtyard, which gives an idea of the missing balcony at the Palazzo Valmarana. The inside corner is accomplished with a single column with an angulated Ionic capital (top image). On the west side, a single-story wall cuts the lower arcade, but a squared, dressed edge is made for the Corinthian loggia above. A narrow balcony runs along the parapet, and the building on the north side.

 

 

 

The Museum is currently showing 'Tiepolo Segreto'. an exhibition of frescoes (plaster wall sections) by Giandomenico Tiepolo. Here, metal and wood structures are used to 'float' the frescos above the Palazzos' decorated surfaces. The images are striking and well presented, with a bright palette and images of Hercules, Cerebus, Hydra, Jupiter, and others as statues in grisaille.

 

 

The heart of the Palladio Museum is a collection of meticulously crafted models, all at the same scale. I am particularly taken by two, the first is the Palazzo Issepo Porto – the unfinished Palazzo we just visited. Here we see the courtyard is built around giant order Composite columns, with minor order Corinthian pilasters attached behind, lining the lower arcade. The model sows the design with low, arched cutouts on the east and west side architraves.

I searched for the I Quattro Libri drawings, but the plan drawing on Wikipedia does not show the pilasters (though this one does), so I am surprised to see them. The cutaway in plan really illustrates how this works with a single column and two pilasters at the corner, and how the bastoni, cavetto, and orlo at the base of each line up.

The court encompassed with portico's, to which one goes from the said entrances by a passage, is to have columns six and thirty foot and an half high, that is, as high as the first and second order. Behind these columns there are pilasters one foot and three quarters broad, and one foot and two inches thick, which support the pavement of the loggia above. This court divides the whole house into two parts: that forwards is for the use of the master, and the women belonging to him; and that backward to lodge strangers in; whereby those of the house, and the strangers will remain free in every respect: to which the ancients, and efpecially the Greeks, had a very great regard. [Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books of Architecture", trans Isaac Ware, London, 1738]

In a separate room are the models for the buildings in Venezia ('Sala di Venezia'). The displays emphasize Palladio's intention to use color, specifically natural red of the brick along with painted striping [closer look at the striping]. Two things catch me off guard: the scale of the San Giorgio model (I'm later told this is not the same as the rest), and the red paint on the vault arches, the termali, the around the cornice and pilasters of the drum, and the minor order column shafts – quite a lot.

Thankfully, the Redentore model does not include the polychromy, and I leave with my conception of that church undamaged.

 

images by the Palladio Museum

 

 

Back outside, we are braking up for lunch, and I steal a minute to take a better look at the exterior. The Palazzo is an uneven configuration of five bays to the south, a 'centeral' arch, and then three bays to the north. The orders are the same as the courtyard, Corinthian over Ionic, but the surfaces are highly decorated with reliefs.

However, all the Ionic capitals inside the entry arcade are angled Ionic; I blame Scamozzi and maybe the British (Indigo Jones).

 

But outside, on the street corner, Palladio uses paired columns and a crease to soften the turn. The 'collided' capitals on the outside corner, offset at forty-five degrees, are inventions I don't recall seeing before. Not angled (Scamozzi) or even angulated (which Palladio calls capitelli angolari, see Book 4, Page 51), there are two pulvinar Ionic capitals.

CAPITALS are generally made in the angles of colonades and portico's of this order, with volutæ not only in front, but also in that part which, if the capital was made as usual, would be the flank; by which means they have the fronts on two sides, and are called angular capitals. I thall shew how these are made in my book of temples. [Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books of Architecture", trans Isaac Ware, London, 1738]

Palladio includes a drawing of the angled capital in I Quattro Libri (Book 4, Page 127) but strangely refers to it as a cross between Doric and Ionic.

THE intercolumniations are less than two diameters. The bases of the columns are composed of the Attick and of the Ionick, and are something different from those which are commonly made, but are nevertheless made in a beautiful manner. The capitals may be said to be a mixture of the Dorick and Ionick: they are very well wrought. [Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books of Architecture", trans Isaac Ware, London, 1738]

I feel like I might be able to spend a whole day just in the Museum [iPhone guide here].

Basilica Palladiana e Loggia del Capitaniato

After a break for lunch, we gather in the Piazza dei Signori, as the last remnants of the weekend's flea market are driven off.

We find the corner crease repeated at the Loggia del Capitaniato (1565-72), but this corner joins two very different facades. The south facade, facing the Piazza, is a two-story Composite portico under balconied windows – very like the Palazzo Porto Breganze without the tall base. The east facade is a single-story Composite triumphal arch over a simpler (Doric? fluted Tuscan?) order framing a serliana with side niches. It's a very odd combination

Like the Palazzo Barbarano, the surfaces of the facade are decorated with 'cake frosting' reliefs (Lorenzo Rubini) that allow the bricks to bleed through. Our Director points out the precise transition between the bricks and the stone base of the column; Palladio does not allow for the thickness of the marmarino because he does not intend to apply it. This is the kind of polychromy that we discussed in the Sala di Venezia (though Wikipedia disagrees; I now concur with our Director).

 

 

The relief sculptures on the eastern facade recount the Veneziana victory over the Ottomans and the sacrifice of the Vicentini at the Battle of Lepanto. There is also a lesson in the personas that a building may reveal, either to a public square or a side street (Contrà del Monte). [And if you're curious about the west facade.]

The Basilica Palladiana (c1546) is a three-sided building, though there are parts of a fourth side against the Torre Bissara (I Quattro Libri adds a fourth side). While the north, west, and south facades appear to be consistent, our Director tells us every bay is unique, particularly the shortened corner bays – the consistency masks the variation. This is because of the original Gothic structure, which was not built with strict or 'measured' engineering.

It is a beautiful combination of Doric and Ionic, giant and minor orders, and double-thick serliane and pairs of oculi. The idea is to make the openings as large as possible to give natural light to the market stalls inside (and keep the vendors quiet), but withstand constant and rigorous use (as we have witnessed in 2017, 2018, 2023, 2025) – the brief is to repair a collapsed arcade after all.

 

The Basilica is all stone, "all very hard live stone, and all the stones have been joined and banded together, with the utmost diligence" [ibid]. Palladio uses three columns to turn each corner, with beautifully folded tondi in the Doric frieze, as we saw at the Villa Pisani at Montagnana. The result is a thick stone pier, essentially square in plan, to carry the highest stresses.

Like his villas, when taken as a whole, the Basilica is immense and grand; but taken by its elements, standing in an archway, it feels perfectly comfortable. The more I experience and learn about the Basilica, the more I am amazed.

Palazzo Thiene

The Palazzo Thiene is from a 1542 design Giulio Romano but is completed by Palladio after 1544. Romano is famous for his playful forms, and this Palazzo is full of jazzy riffs on rustication. The extra-tall arches and windows (doors with railings) appear to allow maximum light exposure, but the rustication keeps everything heavy.

However, the classical pilasters and entablature feel clean and light, and their design is often attributed to Palladio, and the Palazzo is included in I Quattro Libri. The corner blocks project ever so slightly, with double pilasters at the corners.

 

 

Under the entry arcade, there are rusticated piers and columns, as well as a few that look like extra-large paint rollers and a few that look like Bibendum. It's a lot, but I suspect that's the intention.

The interior rooms include an incredible collection of decorated ceilings, as well as tow incredible fireplace surrounds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

In the first order they are Rustick, and in the second of the Composite order. In the angles, there are octangular rooms, that succeed well, as well with respect to their form, as for diverse uses to which they may be accommodated. The rooms of this fabrick that are now finished, have been adorned with the moft beautiful stucco's, by Messer ALESSANDRO VITORIA, and Messer BARTOLOMEO RIDOLFI; and with paintings, by Messer ANSELMO CANERA, and Messer BERNARDINO INDIA of Verona, not inferior to any of the present age. The cellars, and such like places, are under ground; because this fabrick is in the highest part of the city, where there is no danger that water should prove any inconvenience. [Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books of Architecture", trans Isaac Ware, London, 1738]

Tempio di Santa Corona e Cappella Valmarana

Our next stop is the Tempio di Santa Corona (13th century). Th echapels contain fine artwork, which our Director does not let us miss, but I am so happy to be able to return to Palladio's Cappella Valmarana (c1576).

The first painting is in the Altare Garzadori, the "Battesimo di Cristo" by Giovanni Bellini (1500-02, signed IOANNES BELLINUS). The other is in the Altare della Madonna delle Stella, a fourteenth century image of the nursing Madonna with a panoramic image of Vicenza added by Marcello Fogolino (16th century). In the panorama, we can see the old Palazzo della Ragione as it was before Palladio's Basilica.

Now we continue downstairs to the crypt. The Capella is the germ of an idea that Palladio would nurture at Il Redentore: a square-plan chancel with two exedrae, and a square in section as well. Instead of a dome, the Corinthian pilasters rise to a cross vault, with those glorious, folded capitals like we saw at the Palazzo Barbarano.

 

 

 

I remember the 'smiling' face with the two tondi and the string course; now I think the capital is 'smiling', too. I remember the quality of the light. It is a tour de force of beauty from simple geometry.

Casa Cogollo e Teatro Olimpico

Back on the Corso, we stop at the Casa Cogollo (1559), which is attributed to Palladio, and by legend, where he lived. It has an Ionic serliana with faint frescoes in the upper panels, and four moaning gargoyles.

We enter the Teatro Olimpico (c1579) from the stradella on the side; there is restoration work in the Giardino. This is my fourth visit to the Teatro; it never, ever gets old. We begin in Scamozzi's Odèo (music hall) and the Antiodèo (foyer), then walk around and under the cavea.

 

 

The entry to the Teatro space is from the southern doorway (stage left), so our first view is always in section. The space is basically a square in section, and a semi-circle (two squares) in plan. The stage is an extension from that space, with a seven-bay 'scaenae frons' separating the backstage. The backstage contains Scamozzi's 'scene fisse', masterful perspectival trompe-l'œil 'street' that appears in all three openings.

In one of Palladio's more entertaining transitions, the dimensional statuary and architectural framing become frescos at the wing walls, where the audience seating and the stage area meet – that is, the theatrical 'fourth wall'. And we can see where the real becomes the dramatic.

Palazzo Chiericati (Museo Civico)

The long day ends at the Palazzo Chiericati (c1550), which is also the Museo Civico. The Palazzo is unusual for its full-width lower-level arcade and loggias at the upper wings.

THIS fabric has in the part below a loggia forwards, that takes in the whole front: the pavement of the first order rises above ground five foot; which has been done not only to put the cellars and other places underneath, that belong to the conveniency of the house, which wou'd not have succeeded if they had been made intirely under ground, becaufe the river is not far from it; but alfo that the order above might the better enjoy the beautiful situation forwards. The larger have rooms the height of their vaults, according to the first method for the height of vaults: the middle-sized are with groined vaults, and their vaults as high as thofe of the larger. The small rooms are also vaulted, and are divided off. All these vaults are adorned with most excellent compartments of stucco, by Messer BARTOLOMEO RIDOLFI, a Veronese sculptor; and paintings by Messer DOMENICO RIZZO, and Messer BATTISTA VENETIANO, men singular in this profession. The hall is above in the middle of the front, and takes up the middle part of the loggia below. Its height is up to the roof; and because it projects forward a little, it has under the angles double columns. From one part to the other of this hall, there are two loggia's, that is, on each side one; which have their soffites or ceilings adorned with very beautiful pictures, and afford a most agreeable sight. The first order of the front is Dorick, and the second Ionick. [Andrea Palladio, "The Four Books of Architecture", trans Isaac Ware, London, 1738]

 

As described, the corners and connections on the Palazzo brings together many of today's ideas. The Palazzo faces east with its north side on the Corso, so in the mornings, its main facade would not be in shadow. I've seen that corner on earlier visits, and the column is offset from the end arch, giving that crease which catches the morning and midday light. Because there is no other Ionic column beyond the corner, the capital is pulvinar. In the Doric frieze, two tondi and a triglifo occupy the double-fold.

The "double columns" that frame and support the hall are two pairs (four columns) offset at forty-five degrees, with another full column and pilaster at the face of the building, as shown in I Quattro Libri. The Ionic capital is angulated, with a leafy flourish on the volute that makes the turn.