Main content
Europe 1300 - 1800
Course: Europe 1300 - 1800 > Unit 4
Lesson 9: Venice- Greek painters in renaissance Venice
- The Renaissance Synagogues of Venice
- Giorgione, The Tempest
- Giorgione, The Tempest
- Giorgione, Three Philosophers
- Giorgione, the Adoration of the Shepherds
- Bellini and Titian, the Feast of the Gods
- Titian, Pastoral Concert
- Titian, Noli me Tangere
- Titian, Assumption of the Virgin
- Titian, Madonna of the Pesaro Family
- Titian, Bacchus and Ariadne
- Titian, Isabella d’Este (Isabella in Black)
- Titian, two portraits of Pietro Aretino
- Titian, Venus of Urbino
- Titian, Venus of Urbino
- Titian's Venus of Urbino
- Titian, Christ Crowned with Thorns
- Titian, Pieta
- Correggio, Jupiter and Io
- Correggio, Assumption of the Virgin
- Veronese, The Family of Darius Before Alexander
- Veronese, the Dream of Saint Helena
- Paolo Veronese. Feast in the House of Levi
- Transcript of the trial of Veronese
- Tintoretto, the Miracle of the Slave
- Tintoretto, The Finding of the Body of Saint Mark
- Tintoretto, the Origin of the Milky Way
- Tintoretto, Last Supper
- Palladio, La Rotonda
- Palladio, Teatro Olimpico
- The Renaissance in Venice in the 1500s
© 2023 Khan AcademyTerms of usePrivacy PolicyCookie Notice
Palladio, La Rotonda
By Dr. Jimena Berzal de Dios
Looking back and looking forward
At the top of a hill in northern Italy, not far from Venice, stands a majestic villa. Designed by Andrea Palladio, the Villa Almerico-Capra, commonly known as La Rotonda, would become one of the most recognizable buildings of the Renaissance. It is a building that consciously recalls ancient Roman classical models but its innovative design had a lasting impact for future generations of architects in Italy and abroad.
A building with four façades
As an architect, Palladio was acutely interested in engaging viewers, something he often accomplished by making use of striking façades. What makes La Rotonda extremely unique is that it displays not one, but four of them. Idiosyncratic choices do not always result in groundbreaking creations; a building with four façades could have easily ended up being bizarre, but Palladio was able to design a serene, sophisticated construction by emphasizing balance, visual clarity, and uniformity. The design of the building is completely symmetrical; it presents a square plan with identical porticoes projecting from each of the façades. At the center of the building, a dome emerges over a central, circular hall. Palladio was concerned with harmony and mathematical consonance and used the square and the circle as essential, yet elegant forms.
The importance of site
The picturesque qualities of the villa in relation to its environment are not coincidental. Palladio himself reflected on the landscape surrounding La Rotonda: “The loveliest hills are arranged around it, which afford a view into an immense theatre.” In this way, La Rotonda presents four unique views: each of the porticoes is itself a place from which to contemplate the ever-changing spectacle of nature. At the same time, the villa also becomes a stage that can be contemplated from its surroundings. Because of its unique design, a façade is almost always visible: the viewer who walks around the villa never encounters a non-favorable angle.
A palazzo in the countryside
La Rotonda is perhaps the best known of the many country houses built in the Veneto in the sixteenth century. The popularity of villas at the time has to do with the changing Venetian economy. The Spanish and Portuguese voyages to America and Asia, along with Turkish military advances in the eastern Mediterranean, signified the demise of the Italian trade routes—which had been the primary source of wealth for the city-state of Venice. As a result, Venetians looked to the Terra Firma (their territories on the Italian mainland) to support their economy. It is at this time that agriculture became, for the first time, a significant economic source for the Venetian Republic. And yet, unlike other villas in the Veneto, Palladio designed La Rotonda without adjacent farm fields, or service buildings such as barns or warehouses.
A unique commission for a timeless edifice
La Rotonda was commissioned by Paolo Almerico, a retired prelate who returned to Vicenza after a career in the Vatican Court. Almerico sold his house in the city to retire in the countryside. For this reason, La Rotonda was not technically designed as a villa as much as an urban residence placed in the countryside. Almerico never thought of this space as an agricultural production facility, and Palladio himself classified the building as a Palazzo. The ecclesiastical career of Almerico had a definite impact on the building. The religious connotations of La Rotonda are palpable in the vibrant interior, which contrasts with the sober exterior. Inside, La Rotonda is a colorful and vivid space that looks more like a church than a household. In fact, many of the paintings make explicit connections to the religious life of Almerico, celebrating religious values and Christian virtues, such as temperance and chastity.
The exterior of La Rotonda also suggests the sacred. The edifice was influenced by ancient Roman temples (such as the Pantheon) and sacred complexes (such as the Sanctuary of Fortuna Primigenia). By using ancient Roman temples as a model, Palladio incorporates religious overtones into an otherwise secular space. At the same time, La Rontonda has a perennial quality to it; Palladio’s use of classical elements emphasizes a universal architectural language.
Additional resources
Essay by Dr. Jimena Berzal de Dios
Want to join the conversation?
- Did Thomas Jefferson model his famous house Monticello in any way off of the Villa Rotunda? The resemblance is fairly striking to me!(4 votes)
- Yes, it was, to an extent, and other "model villas" in Palladio's Books of Architecture.(6 votes)
- Which date was this essay published ? i require it for harvard referencing(2 votes)
- Cite this page as: Dr. Javier Berzal de Dios, "Palladio, La Rotonda," in Smarthistory, August 9, 2015, accessed April 10, 2018, https://smarthistory.org/palladio-la-rotonda/.(2 votes)
- What is the significance of the use of tile roofing? was this based on classical architecture too? or just used because it was easily made and structurally lighter?(2 votes)
- The planning of this building has influences from the Vitruvian man, i wanted to kow if there are any influences from the philosophies of Pico della Mirandola ?
His oration spoke about humans having the capability of rising above the chain of being, does incorporating design vocabulary of sacred spaces into a residential place have anything to do with it?
Maybe a space like this inspires the user to aspire to be higher in the chain of being and aspire to reach god?
Is there any study/material on this subject(2 votes) - what was the innovative style(2 votes)
- Who painted the interior?(1 vote)