Villa Cornaro

The noble architecture of this Villa was Andrea Palladio’s first great triumph and his dream come true – a city building in the countryside. It was 1552 when the nobleman Giorgio Cornaro commissioned plans for his new country home, today a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Palladio opted for a single square body with two facades, a projecting portico-loggia with a double row of columns. Ashlar patterns decorate the walls and harmonious equilibrium is skilfully created by the tympanum topping the two levels of columns. The interiors features a series of 6 statues by Camillo Mariani depicting illustrious members of the Cornaro family (1589-90). A cycle of 104 frescoes with a biblical theme by Mattia Bortoloni painted between 1716 and 1718 have glorious stucco frames by Bortolo Cabianca (1716). The original pictorial cycle, with its Masonic inspiration, is characterised by “late-Mannerist” exaggeration and a figurative grace that continued into Rococo.

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Currently NOT available for tours.