PALLADIO'S ITALIAN VILLAS

Villa elevation


Introduction:

Eighteen Renaissance villas by the architect Andrea Palladio survive today in the Veneto area around Venice, Italy. Many of them are open to the public. They are visited each year by thousands of architects, art historians, tourists and others who want to admire their beauty, feel closer to history and better understand the foundations of the modern world.

Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) remains the most influential architect in the history of architecture. About 450 years ago his country houses -- called "villas" -- began to appear in the countryside of the Veneto, the mainland province around Venice.

Palladio's villas revolutionized Western architecture in the 17th and 18th centuries, produced the school of Southern architecture in the 19th century, and changed the way homes look in our contemporary world. His influence was ensured by his revolutionary treatise The Four Books of Architecture (1570).

The villas represent Palladio's response to the unique needs of his contemporary world. In the villas Palladio re-worked what he perceived to be timeless and universal principles newly re-discovered from the past. Fortuitously, the needs of his time have remained needs of the modern world. As a result, Palladio's architectural insights and solutions remain vital and relevant.


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