The Veneto Revisited – Vicenza

We leave Milan for Vicenza (pop 111,980 in 2017), the city of Palladio and an ideal location on the Regionale railway in the central Veneto. We are very familiar with the town, having visited in 2017 and 2018.

Still, we are surprised to find the Basilica Palladiana partially hidden, and the Piazza dei Signori full of white tents. Luckily, it is the CioccolandoVi – the chocolate festival. If you're going to block our view of the architecture, you better offer chocolate. The festival takes it one step further and adds balloons, with a vendor right by Andrea's statue – SpongeBob and the great master sharing the square.

 

 

We meet some friends who live near Vicenza but have never been to the Teatro Olimpico (1580-1585). The Teatro contains a unique architectural interior; Palladio did not design the exterior. Unlike most of his villas and even his churches, Palladio typically left the interior for other artists. But here, he delivers his vision for a Renaissance rendition of an old Roman theater, and it is a stunner.

There is an outer courtyard, the Giardino, between the old city walls and the Torre Coxina, to gather the audience. A series of reception spaces includes the Odèo (a small music hall) and the Antiodèo (entrance foyer; both rooms attributed to Vicenzo Scamozzi after Palladio's death). The theatrical expression of the painted walls and ornamentation prepares the audience for the drama come.

 

 

 

Upon entering the theater space, the first impression is made by the scaenae frons, the elaborate Corinthian archway, based on Roman models, at the back of the stage. At the corners the full-relief architecture becomes painted decoration, marking the transition from one reality to another.

Our eyes, and our iPhone's new cameras, are drawn up to the cornice, where there is a dedication, virtuti ac genie (of strength and genius), and a credit for Palladio Archit.  Above that is a relief panel with an old classical theater and a reference to Virgil's Aeneid: hoc opus, hic labor est:

The gates of hell are open night and day;

Smooth the descent, and easy is the way:

But to return, and view the cheerful skies,

In this the task and mighty labor lies.

Our eyes continue up to the ceiling, with various, faded theatrical scenes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearby, there is another architectural masterpiece that Palladio did not get to finish, the Villa Almerico Capra, La Rotonda (1567-1605; unfinished due to the deaths of both Palladio and Paulo Almerico). To reach it, we take the path along the Fiume Bacchiglione and then onto the Pista Ciclabile Renato Casarotto.

The exterior is clean and regular, even the Ionic capitals lose the typical egg-and-dart relief between the volutes. The dome is barely visible, so we only get a hint of the circle and square geometry. Otherwise, it is crisp and legible, if enigmatic – a head with four faces.

We are thus unprepared for the interior, which is an explosion of Baroque sculpture and paint.

 

 

From the northwest, the entry hall is narrow and tall, with monogrammed doors and thick pediments to the sides, and a good look into the Rotonda. In the ceiling fresco, a female nude seems to shower us with water and flowers, which helps provide cool relief on a warm day.

To the right is the salone ovest, a sitting room with an enormous fireplace surround. The ceiling fresco here shows 'the Gods' (Consiglio degli dei con Aristotele e Virgilio, Giambattista Maganza) talking amiably, as the houseguests on the sofa might.

 

 

 

To the left, the salone nord setup to display maps and drawings. The ceiling shows a more celebratory and playful image, featuring a female figure with a hoop and stick (l'Allegoria dell'Eternità e le Tre Grazie, Alessandro Maganza). Next to the fireplace is what looks like an artillery casing. This leads to a smaller room, and another narrow corridor behind the northeast porch.

 

 

 

On through to the salone orientale, with another energetic fresco of angles preparing for a coronation. But it is actually an image of the original owner (Almerico, by Anselmo Canera) chasing a naked woman and a faun with a switch. In the corner, a woman offers a rope. It is described as an allegory repudiating vices, but the image seems to suggest a different purpose.

The last salone sud contains a dining table. Above, the ceiling depicts the triumph of a female warrior over a male foe (by Antonio Canova, in need of conservation).

 

 

 

 

Finally, we come to the Rotonda. An eight-spoke radial pattern adorns the terrazzo floor. A stone drain or vent carved with the face of a chimera sits in the center. Around the drum, painted columns and over-scaled figures of the Gods stand below a stone balustrade. The frescos in the dome are also by Alessandro Maganza and show allegorie legate alla vita religiosa e alle Virtù: Fede (kneeling female figure), Fama, Eternità, Temperanza, Giustizia (blind female figure), Fortezza (lion), Castità (unicorn), Temperanza (elephant).

Here, we let the iPhone capture the dome at five-times, two-times, one-time, and half-time magnification.

 

 

 

We stroll around the house in a clockwise direction, checking each temple front: the pair of 'eye socket' openings in each pediment, the three classical statues on top, and the pair on the side of each stair. The frieze and cornice lines follow the cube-like volume.

The intention, we recall from our art history classes, is that the proportions organize the landscape rather than respond to it, or in Palladio's words: "The loveliest hills are arranged around it, which afford a view into an immense theatre."

 

 

 

Our walk home is past the Villa Valmarana ai Nani (1670), on the Via San Bastiano. We cross the Viale Dante Alighieri near a small park with hill-top views of Vicenza, descend the Scalinata di Monte Berico, and cross the Ponte San Michele (seventeenth century).

We return near the Teatro, by the Palazzo Chiericati (Palladio, 1550-1680), and sit down at a cafe. Our friends introduce us to gingerino, drinking in the bliss of a good day – full of the best art and architecture, and good company.