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Vicenza. Italy, Europe. When Palladio escaped an oppressive employer in his native Padua, few would have guessed the humble stonecutter would, within a few decades, transform not only his adoptive city but also the history of European architecture. By luck, a local count recognised his talents in the 1520s and sent him to study the ruins in Rome.
Vicenza's civic art museum occupies one of Palladio’s finest buildings, designed in 1550. The ground floor, used for temporary exhibitions, is where you… Villa Valmarana ‘ai Nani’
Vicenza, Italy, Europe. Vicenza. The heart of historic Vicenza is Piazza dei Signori, where Palladio lightens the mood of government buildings with his trademark play of light and shadow. Dazzling white Piovene stone (a local limestone) arches frame shady double arcades at the Basilica Palladiana while, across the piazza, white stone and stucco ...
Vicenza. Now a venue for world-class exhibitions, the Palladian Basilica is capped with an enormous copper dome reminiscent of the hull of a ship. The building, modelled on a Roman basilica, once housed the law courts and Council of Four Hundred. Palladio was lucky to secure the commission in 1549 (it took his patron 50 years of lobbying the ...
Vicenza. Six metres below modern Vicenza lies one of the city's lesser-known historical treasures – a 1st-century Roman cryptoportico. Discovered during postwar reconstruction in 1954, it's the only private cryptoportico uncovered in northern Italy to date. If you are around on the second Sunday of the month, it's a worth a trip underground.
Top choice in Vicenza. Behind a walled garden lies a Renaissance marvel: the Teatro Olimpico, which Palladio began in 1580 with inspiration from Roman amphitheatres. Vincenzo Scamozzi finished the elliptical theatre after Palladio’s death, adding a stage set modelled on the ancient Greek city of Thebes, with streets built in steep perspective ...
Chiesa di Santa Corona. Vicenza, Italy, Europe. Vicenza. Built by the Dominicans in 1261 to house a relic from Christ’s crown of thorns donated to the bishop of Vicenza by Louis IX of France, this Romanesque church also houses three light-filled masterpieces: Palladio’s 1576 Valmarana Chapel in the crypt; Paolo Veronese’s Adoration of the ...
Italy, Europe. Vicenza. From La Rotonda, a charming footpath leads about 500m to the neoclassical elegance of Villa Valmarana ‘ai Nani’, nicknamed after the 17 statues of dwarves ('ai Nani') around the perimeter walls. Step inside for 18th-century frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo and his son Giandomenico. Giambattista painted the Palazzina ...
Vicenza's civic art museum occupies one of Palladio’s finest buildings, designed in 1550. The ground floor, used for temporary exhibitions, is where you'll find the Sala dal Firmamento (Salon of the Skies) and its blush-inducing ceiling fresco of Diana and an up-skirted Helios by Domenico Brusasorci. Highlights in the upstairs galleries include Anthony Van Dyck's allegorical The Four Ages of ...
8. Duomo. Designed by Lorenzo di Bologna, construction of Vicenza's cathedral began in the late 15th century. In the mid-16th century, Andrea Palladio added his own…. View more attractions. To better understand architect Andrea Palladio and his legacy, explore the frescoed halls of this modern museum. Artefacts include historical copies of….