Vicenza

The Villa, located on the left bank of the Brenta River, represents a unique and ingenious example of great Venetian architecture in the late 16th century. The singular construction, dating presumably towards the end of the 16th century (1560-1580), is attributed to the Palladian architect Francesco Zamberlan and completed by the architect Antonio Sardi.

It is characterized by a portico and an Ionic loggia that runs along its entire rectangular perimeter, so that no section of wall ever interrupts the extraordinary pictorial and chiaroscuro effect. The Villa presents, both in its exterior and interior, solutions that, while presupposing Palladian experience, are entirely new and original, making the construction destined to remain an isolated and unrepeatable architectural episode. Once belonging to the Morosini, Cappello, Battaggia, Lampertico, and Vanzo-Mercante families, the Villa is now owned by the Municipality and serves as the town hall.

On the first floor of the South Barchessa is the Municipal Library, whose back wall, frescoed by Master Bruno Breggion, tells the story of the town through images. Near the former Caretaker's House is the senior day center, where conferences, exhibitions, and public meetings are held.

At the beginning of the Riviera Berica road, on a hill, Villa Capra Valmarana “La Rotonda” has been seducing travellers for centuries thanks to its lines and volumes. Palladio includes the factory in the part of the treatise dedicated to the city, thanks to its proximity to Vicenza.

The architect describes its situation as “advantagious and delicious as can be desir’d, being feated on a hillock of a most easie ascent at the foot of which runs the Bacchilione, a navigable river. On the other side, it is surrounded by several hills, which seem to form a great Theatre”.

Today the ascent to the villa from the river is cut off from the road by a wall, which interrupts the natural slope of the hill. The construction of the building started between 1566 and 1568, but came to a halt in 1571. At the death of the client, Canon Paul Almerico, the villa was taken over by Mario and Odorico Capra in 1591.

The Capra family completed the works around 1620. There are four identical façades with hexastyle ionic porticos around the central body. Palladio planned to cover the central hall with a semi-spherical dome, but it was Vincenzo Scamozzi who ultimately finished the work, thus changing the original design that led to a different structure. Inside, the semi-spherical ceiling is decorated with frescoes by Alessandro Maganza, whereas on the side walls are depicted Greek gods painted in the eighteenth century by the French painter Louis Dorigny