Villa Chiericati
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Villa Chiericati (also known as Villa Chiericati-Rigo) is a villa at Vancimuglio in the Veneto designed for Giovanni Chiericati by Palladio in the early 1550s. The villa was not finally completed until after it had been purchased by Ludovico Porto in 1574. In 1584 he employed the architect Domenico Groppino who had collaborated with Palladio on other projects to complete the villa.
The villa is square with a facade broken by a portico prostyle adorning its principal facade. The principal rooms are built upon a piano nobile above a semi-basement. The upper floor is very much of secondary importance. The design of the villa (this was the first time a temple-like portico was incorporated as part of a villa’s design) was to be the prototype for Palladio's later works at the Villa Rotonda and the Villa Malcontenta.
There is some debate as to the extent Groppino influenced the eventual design of the building. While the portico is undoubtedly by the hand of Palladio himself, in his four volumed work "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura" he advises against placing windows near the corner of a building, as is the case with either side of the portico, for it weakens the structure (the villa does in fact reveal signs of settlement here), leading experts to question just who in fact was responsible for this placement.[1]
Palladio also designed the family's town house Palazzo Chiericati in Vicenza.
[edit] References
- ^ Palladio and the Veneto
- Palladio and the Veneto retrieved 19th November 2006.
- Villa Chiericati retrieved 19th November 2006 (Italian)
