Education
Searching for the ancient
Having lived in the Serenissima in the middle of the 16th century, Andrea Palladio WAS the architect who was most able to interpret and manifest the rural aspiration of the Veneto nobility.
Son of a miller, he was born in Padova in 1508. He moved to Vicenza, a city that he had always felt connected to, at a very young age.
Here he trained as a stonemason and later on as an architect.
He met Giangiorgio Trissino, a noble humanist from Vicenza, in villa Cricoli’s building days. Trissino became his main mentor for his architectural education and it was him who gave Palladio the greek nickname through which he is internationally known today. The two travelled to Rome together multiple times. It was there that, facing the roman ruins and meditating on antiquity, Palladio created a new concept of architecture in which the Classicism elements and the functional needs blend harmoniously into the landscape.
Education
Searching for the ancient
Having lived in the Serenissima in the middle of the 16th century, Andrea Palladio WAS the architect who was most able to interpret and manifest the rural aspiration of the Veneto nobility.
Son of a miller, he was born in Padova in 1508. He moved to Vicenza, a city that he had always felt connected to, at a very young age.
Here he trained as a stonemason and later on as an architect.
He met Giangiorgio Trissino, a noble humanist from Vicenza, in villa Cricoli’s building days. Trissino became his main mentor for his architectural education and it was him who gave Palladio the greek nickname through which he is internationally known today. The two travelled to Rome together multiple times. It was there that, facing the roman ruins and meditating on antiquity, Palladio created a new concept of architecture in which the Classicism elements and the functional needs blend harmoniously into the landscape.
An architect of villas
From Palladio to Palladianism
The role that initiated him as the Architect of the city of Vicenza in 1546, was the creation of the Palazzo della Ragione, the so called modern basilica.
Whilst in Vicenza, Palladio mainly designed buildings for the city’s aristocracy, in Venice he was commissioned major religious works.
The villas, however, were built In the vast venetian countryside where the local aristocracy established itself and managed the agricultural economy of Serenissima.
The palladian union of the desire for city like exteriors and the rustic needs of the building, which is well illustrated in the book I quattro libri dell’architettura, is portrayed at its best in Palladio’s collaboration with Paolo Americo with the creation of Villa Rotonda.
Andrea palladio died In 1580 in the outskirts of Vicenza. At the time he was working on the city’s Teatro Olimpico and on Villa Barbarano’s temple in Maser.
However, his legacy defeated both time and space. Palladian architecture reached England and the United States to then become an architectural point of reference and inspiration for buildings in new independent nations. Symbolically, it came to represent a happy time, in which aesthetics and morality coincided.
An architect of villas
From Palladio to Palladianism
The role that initiated him as the Architect of the city of Vicenza in 1546, was the creation of the Palazzo della Ragione, the so called modern basilica.
Whilst in Vicenza, Palladio mainly designed buildings for the city’s aristocracy, in Venice he was commissioned major religious works.
The villas, however, were built In the vast venetian countryside where the local aristocracy established itself and managed the agricultural economy of Serenissima.
The palladian union of the desire for city like exteriors and the rustic needs of the building, which is well illustrated in the book I quattro libri dell’architettura, is portrayed at its best in Palladio’s collaboration with Paolo Americo with the creation of Villa Rotonda.
Andrea palladio died In 1580 in the outskirts of Vicenza. At the time he was working on the city’s Teatro Olimpico and on Villa Barbarano’s temple in Maser.
However, his legacy defeated both time and space. Palladian architecture reached England and the United States to then become an architectural point of reference and inspiration for buildings in new independent nations. Symbolically, it came to represent a happy time, in which aesthetics and morality coincided.
Palladio's life
1508
Andrea of Pietro della Gondola is born in Padova, known as “Palladio”.
1524
He enrolls in the ‘fraglia dei tagliapietra (stonecutters) and muratori (builders)’ in Vicenza where his father Pietro, a miller, had moved to.
1538
He meets Giangiorgio Trissino,a noble humanistic from Vicenza, in villa Cricoli’s building site (it appears they may have met before, perhaps in 1534). Trissino influenced his idea of ancient architecture: he gave Palladio his greek nickname, inspired by the ancient goddess Pallas Athena.
1541
A likely trip to Rome to follow Trisino: Palladio comes face to face with ancient ruins for the first time.
1542
Villa Godi’s construction work at Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino comes to an end. Palladio’s first large villa has an antiquated planimetry and it’s still similar to a traditional countryside palace in Veneto.His first project commissioned by the venetian nobility was Villa Pisani in Bagnolo. It was destined to become a prototype. Similarly to Raffaello’s Villa Madama in Rome, it stands on foundations that resemble a temple’s stylobate, which include the service areas. The main hall, A TUTTA ALTEZZA is covered by an arch shaped wall which is richly decorated and illuminated by a Diocletian window. It’s part of an antique floorplan, but it’s innovative in comparison to pre palladian main halls.
1546
Vicenza’s town council entrusted Palladio with the responsibility of building the Regional Palace’s lodges, symbol of municipal power. However works started in 1549: this job made Palladio the city’s official architect, a role that guaranteed him 5 golden Scudi until his death. Palladio surrounded the pre existing medieval building with a double order of arches, keeping in mind its existing openings and paths and creating a design that allows light to penetrate freely through the arches’ vaults. The result is an unprecedented building, defined by the architect as ‘the modern basilica’, and which expressed his intention to adapt antique designs to modern purposes, just as he did in those years with his villas.
Palladio envisioned joining the noble residences and agricultural places of work. However he was faced with resistance from his commissioners and with pre existing building’s layouts. An example of this is the case of Villa Pojana in Pojana Maggiore, where the palladian barchessa was still separate to the noble residence.
1547
Palladio’s long stay in Rome, where he participates in the ‘Urbe’s’ mundane society and explores the ruins in Tivoli, Palestrina, Porto and Albano.
1550
Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza. This project saw Palladio distancing himself from Bramante’s style, which was characterised by bossage foundations and upper floor plans with an architectural order applied to the walls. He instead placed colonnades on both ground and noble floors, making them the real protagonists of the palace. To reduce costs, the architect replicated a medieval technique which consisted in building the colonnades in bricks, which were then coated in plaster to resembles stone. A little over a year after the opening of the Basilica’s building site, the eclecticism of the first decade of the century will forever be replaced by Palladio’s architectural designs.
Giangiorgio Trissino dies in rome.
1553
The first residential projects for the venetian nobility in the Veneto plains, such as the Pisani Villa-Palace in Montagnana and Cornaro in Piombino Dese. Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine, Villa Barbaro in Maser and Villa Foscari, also known as ‘la malcontenta, in Mira, and Villa Mocenigo on the Brenta’s banks are the first architectural examples that see the noble residences adjoined to the farmsteads and barnyards.
1555
Palladio is one of the founders of Vicenza’s Accademia Olimpica.
1556
Villa Emo in Fanzolo di Vedelago. Vitruvio’s treatise, translated by Daniele Barbaro and illustrated by Andrea Palladio is published.
1558
The Vicenza Cathedral ‘s Dome.
1559
Palladio works on religious commissions in Venice; these were the years in which he worked on the San Pietro’s Church facade, the Convento delle Carità and San Giorgio Maggiore’s refectory in Venice.
1563
Villa Valmarana in Lisiera and Paolo Almerico Cappella in Vicenza’s Cathedral.
1565
The Capitaniato’s Loggia in Vicenza. The complex project for the church in San Giorgio Maggiore’s monastery in Venice was approved. Construction began the following year.
1566
Palladio developed some ideas for the Rialto Bridge, which were never implemented.
1567
‘La Rotonda’, Paolo Allmerico’s villa. This project saw Palladio translating antique templar designs to civil architecture.
1570
‘I quattro libri dell’architettura’ by Andrea Palladio are published. The treatise, which were the result of thirty years of work, gives a graphical reconstruction of buildings and designs from ancient Rome alongside palladian works.The architect lived permanently in Venice.
1576
The venetian Senate commission The Redentore Church was built on Giudecca island as a votive church to thank God for the deliverance of the city from a major outbreak of the plague.
1580
Vincenzo Scamozzi completes Palladio’s work on the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza after Palladio’s death. His last project was the Tempietto in Villa Barbaro, Maser.
Palladio's life
1508
Andrea of Pietro della Gondola is born in Padova, known as “Palladio”.
1524
He enrolls in the ‘fraglia dei tagliapietra (stonecutters) and muratori (builders)’ in Vicenza where his father Pietro, a miller, had moved to.
1538
He meets Giangiorgio Trissino,a noble humanistic from Vicenza, in villa Cricoli’s building site (it appears they may have met before, perhaps in 1534). Trissino influenced his idea of ancient architecture: he gave Palladio his greek nickname, inspired by the ancient goddess Pallas Athena.
1541
A likely trip to Rome to follow Trisino: Palladio comes face to face with ancient ruins for the first time.
1542
Villa Godi’s construction work at Lonedo di Lugo Vicentino comes to an end. Palladio’s first large villa has an antiquated planimetry and it’s still similar to a traditional countryside palace in Veneto.His first project commissioned by the venetian nobility was Villa Pisani in Bagnolo. It was destined to become a prototype. Similarly to Raffaello’s Villa Madama in Rome, it stands on foundations that resemble a temple’s stylobate, which include the service areas. The main hall, A TUTTA ALTEZZA is covered by an arch shaped wall which is richly decorated and illuminated by a Diocletian window. It’s part of an antique floorplan, but it’s innovative in comparison to pre palladian main halls.
1546
Vicenza’s town council entrusted Palladio with the responsibility of building the Regional Palace’s lodges, symbol of municipal power. However works started in 1549: this job made Palladio the city’s official architect, a role that guaranteed him 5 golden Scudi until his death. Palladio surrounded the pre existing medieval building with a double order of arches, keeping in mind its existing openings and paths and creating a design that allows light to penetrate freely through the arches’ vaults. The result is an unprecedented building, defined by the architect as ‘the modern basilica’, and which expressed his intention to adapt antique designs to modern purposes, just as he did in those years with his villas.
Palladio envisioned joining the noble residences and agricultural places of work. However he was faced with resistance from his commissioners and with pre existing building’s layouts. An example of this is the case of Villa Pojana in Pojana Maggiore, where the palladian barchessa was still separate to the noble residence.
1547
Palladio’s long stay in Rome, where he participates in the ‘Urbe’s’ mundane society and explores the ruins in Tivoli, Palestrina, Porto and Albano.
1550
Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza. This project saw Palladio distancing himself from Bramante’s style, which was characterised by bossage foundations and upper floor plans with an architectural order applied to the walls. He instead placed colonnades on both ground and noble floors, making them the real protagonists of the palace. To reduce costs, the architect replicated a medieval technique which consisted in building the colonnades in bricks, which were then coated in plaster to resembles stone. A little over a year after the opening of the Basilica’s building site, the eclecticism of the first decade of the century will forever be replaced by Palladio’s architectural designs.
Giangiorgio Trissino dies in rome.
1553
The first residential projects for the venetian nobility in the Veneto plains, such as the Pisani Villa-Palace in Montagnana and Cornaro in Piombino Dese. Villa Badoer in Fratta Polesine, Villa Barbaro in Maser and Villa Foscari, also known as ‘la malcontenta, in Mira, and Villa Mocenigo on the Brenta’s banks are the first architectural examples that see the noble residences adjoined to the farmsteads and barnyards.
1555
Palladio is one of the founders of Vicenza’s Accademia Olimpica.
1556
Villa Emo in Fanzolo di Vedelago. Vitruvio’s treatise, translated by Daniele Barbaro and illustrated by Andrea Palladio is published.
1558
The Vicenza Cathedral ‘s Dome.
1559
Palladio works on religious commissions in Venice; these were the years in which he worked on the San Pietro’s Church facade, the Convento delle Carità and San Giorgio Maggiore’s refectory in Venice.
1563
Villa Valmarana in Lisiera and Paolo Almerico Cappella in Vicenza’s Cathedral.
1565
The Capitaniato’s Loggia in Vicenza. The complex project for the church in San Giorgio Maggiore’s monastery in Venice was approved. Construction began the following year.
1566
Palladio developed some ideas for the Rialto Bridge, which were never implemented.
1567
‘La Rotonda’, Paolo Allmerico’s villa. This project saw Palladio translating antique templar designs to civil architecture.
1570
‘I quattro libri dell’architettura’ by Andrea Palladio are published. The treatise, which were the result of thirty years of work, gives a graphical reconstruction of buildings and designs from ancient Rome alongside palladian works.The architect lived permanently in Venice.
1576
The venetian Senate commission The Redentore Church was built on Giudecca island as a votive church to thank God for the deliverance of the city from a major outbreak of the plague.
1580
Vincenzo Scamozzi completes Palladio’s work on the Teatro Olimpico in Vicenza after Palladio’s death. His last project was the Tempietto in Villa Barbaro, Maser.