Vicenza Villas and the Making of Palladio

Mine is a simple story, even if many people would entrust complexity rather than simplicity to a man like me. This is the story of a man whose art wanted to be at the service of peace, of the organism, so that all the parts were united in one... Well, that man was me: Andrea di Pietro della Gondola, the so called “Palladio”. In my life I have always been very modest and I acted like a humble servant, even though many today put me on the throne of architects. If you want to start telling my story, you will always have to start it from here, at Villa Trissino Trettenero. Certainly this villa was not my work, but it was the place of origin of my fruitful career. In this place, in fact, I met the humanist Giangiorgio Trissino, when I was nothing more than a young stonemason. I entered into his graces and soon this man sensed my talents, although I was still a very modest stonecutter. One day he financed me and allowed me to travel to Rome, to introduce me to the architecture of the Ancient Romans, of which my heart was immediately kidnapped... I still did not realize it, but, in a short time, my career for which I was predestined, it would begin and I would be introduced to wealthy clients. I owe everything to Trissino, that far-sighted humanist! - Mine is a simple story, even if many people would entrust complexity rather than simplicity to a man like me. This is the story of a man whose art wanted to be at the service of peace, of the organism, so that all the parts were united in one... Well, that man was me: Andrea di Pietro della Gondola, the so called “Palladio”. In my life I have always been very modest and I acted like a humble servant, even though many today put me on the throne of architects. If you want to start telling my story, you will always have to start it from here, at Villa Trissino Trettenero. Certainly this villa was not my work, but it was the place of origin of my fruitful career. In this place, in fact, I met the humanist Giangiorgio Trissino, when I was nothing more than a young stonemason. I entered into his graces and soon this man sensed my talents, although I was still a very modest stonecutter. One day he financed me and allowed me to travel to Rome, to introduce me to the architecture of the Ancient Romans, of which my heart was immediately kidnapped... I still did not realize it, but, in a short time, my career for which I was predestined, it would begin and I would be introduced to wealthy clients. I owe everything to Trissino, that far-sighted humanist!

My reputation, at the time, would have been based on my ability to draw and design works that, after my death, would become the testimony of my artistic talent. I could never have foreseen it and never wanted to be proud of my works; I did what seemed most architecturally right, always acting in complete humility. I never wanted to be so proud of my works. My villas, for their part, in addition to being centers of land ownership, had to represent a place of health, wellness, study, meditation... What about a villa of the caliber of the one I designed for the Caldogno family? Back then I was a friend of many Venetian patrician families, as well as the Caldogno themselves. This was a noble family from Vicenza who, one day, asked me to work on a pre-existing structure and to design a new body for their country house. It was beautiful what I was doing; staying there, in the heart of Veneto countryside, devising new forms for the work that had to be born only with the mere use of my wits. But it would be a mistake to think that it is all my doing; most of my creations owe everything to the past, to the teachings of the Ancients; without them, how could I have conceived what I have conceived? - My reputation, at the time, would have been based on my ability to draw and design works that, after my death, would become the testimony of my artistic talent. I could never have foreseen it and never wanted to be proud of my works; I did what seemed most architecturally right, always acting in complete humility. I never wanted to be so proud of my works. My villas, for their part, in addition to being centers of land ownership, had to represent a place of health, wellness, study, meditation... What about a villa of the caliber of the one I designed for the Caldogno family? Back then I was a friend of many Venetian patrician families, as well as the Caldogno themselves. This was a noble family from Vicenza who, one day, asked me to work on a pre-existing structure and to design a new body for their country house. It was beautiful what I was doing; staying there, in the heart of Veneto countryside, devising new forms for the work that had to be born only with the mere use of my wits. But it would be a mistake to think that it is all my doing; most of my creations owe everything to the past, to the teachings of the Ancients; without them, how could I have conceived what I have conceived?

One step in front of the other, this wandering of mine takes me where the earth meets the river, in an oasis of peace and lightheartedness it invests my mind. As I walk through the green grass, the ideas that crowd my head gradually take shape. Here, where the Bacchiglione mixes with clay, right at Dueville, I take a moment just for myself, away from the noise of the city. Just the sound of the gurgling water and the chirping of birds. In ancient times this river bore the name of Edrone, while my people gave it its current name, from "bacajare", which means chatter, rumble in my language, because its gurgling, in the days of flood, resembles the shouting of us human beings. With a clear mind, I am ready to return to my beloved villas.