Villa Contarini
Encyclopedia
Patricianship
Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a class of patrician families whose members were the only people allowed to exercise many political functions...
villa veneta in Piazzola sul Brenta
Piazzola sul Brenta
Piazzola sul Brenta is a comune in the Province of Padua in the Italian region Veneto, located about 45 km west of Venice and about 15 km northwest of Padua.-Main sights:*Villa Contarini, begun by Andrea Palladio...
, province of Padova, northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. The villa
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
is in Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style and is backed by a 40 ha park with lakes and alleys.
The central building was begun in 1546 under commission by the Venetian patricians Paolo and Francesco Contarini
Contarini
Contarini is an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished eight Doges to the Republic of Venice, as well as an array of eminent figures of the Church, statecraft, generalship, art, and letters.- Notable members :* Domenico I Contarini Contarini is an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished...
. Controversial is the attribution of the design to the famous architect Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
. This first edifice was later enlarged in the late 17th century by Marco Contarini.
History
Villa
A villa was originally an ancient Roman upper-class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became small farming compounds, which were increasingly fortified in Late Antiquity,...
designed by Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio was an architect active in the Republic of Venice. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily by Vitruvius, is widely considered the most influential individual in the history of Western architecture...
in the 1540s for Paolo Contarini
Contarini
Contarini is an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished eight Doges to the Republic of Venice, as well as an array of eminent figures of the Church, statecraft, generalship, art, and letters.- Notable members :* Domenico I Contarini Contarini is an illustrious Venetian family, which furnished...
and his brothers. The attribution is not certain and there were made also the names of Vincenzo Scamozzi
Vincenzo Scamozzi
thumb|250px|Portrait of Vincenzo Scamozzi by [[Paolo Veronese]]Vincenzo Scamozzi was a Venetian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century...
and of Baldassare Longhena.
Traces of palladian work linger on in maps and archival documents, although little is now visible of a building which was transformed in several campaigns from 1662 on. In 1676 the right wing was enlarged and remodelled, with a two-storey order of rustic columns and telamon
Telamon
In Greek mythology, Telamon , son of the king Aeacus, of Aegina, and Endeis and brother of Peleus, accompanied Jason as one of his Argonauts, and was present at the hunt for the Calydonian Boar. In the Iliad he was the father of Greek heroes Ajax the Great and Teucer the Archer by different...
s, and a program of ostentatious sculptural decoration which invades the principal villa block too.
The chapel
Chapel
A chapel is a building used by Christians as a place of fellowship and worship. It may be part of a larger structure or complex, such as a church, college, hospital, palace, prison or funeral home, located on board a military or commercial ship, or it may be an entirely free-standing building,...
is one of the most important works designed by Tommaso Temanza.
A map of 1788 shows that by that date the porticoed hemicycle defining the great piazza
Piazza
A piazza is a city square in Italy, Malta, along the Dalmatian coast and in surrounding regions. The term is roughly equivalent to the Spanish plaza...
already existed.
Sources
- Villa Contarini in CISA website (source for the first revision of the historical section, with kind permission)
External links
- Official website ( abstract)