Architecture: Venice
Venice long had been a major Mediterranean coastal port and served
as the gateway to the Orient. Reaching the height of its commercial
and political power during the 15th century, the city saw its fortunes
decline in the 16th century. Even so, Venice and the Papal States were
the only Italian sovereignties to retain their independence during the
century of strife. Either France or Spain dominated all others. Al-
though the discoveries in the New World and the economic shift
from Italy to areas such as the Netherlands were largely responsible
for the decline of Venice, even more immediate and pressing events
drained its wealth and power. After their conquest of Constantinople,
the Turks began to vie with the Venetians for control of the eastern
Mediterranean. The Ottoman Empire evolved into a constant threat
to Venice. Early in the century, the European powers of the League of
Cambrai also attacked the Italian port city. Formed and led by Pope
Julius II, who coveted Venetian holdings on Italy’s mainland, the
league included Spain, France, and the Holy Roman Empire, in addi-
tion to the Papal States. Despite these challenges, Venice developed a
flourishing, independent, and influential school of artists.
ANDREA PALLADIOThe chief architect of the Venetian Re-
public from 1570 until his death a decade later was Andrea di Pietro,
known as Andrea Palladio(1508–1580). (The surname derives
from Pallas Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, an appropriate refer-
ence for an architect schooled in the classical tradition of Alberti and
Bramante.) Palladio began his career as a stonemason and decora-
tive sculptor in Vicenza, but at age 30 he turned to architecture, the
ancient literature on architecture, engineering, topography, and mil-
itary science. In order to study the ancient buildings firsthand, Palla-
dio made several trips to Rome. In 1556 he illustrated Daniele Bar-
baro’s edition of Vitruvius’s De architecturaand later wrote his own
treatise on architecture,I quattro libri dell’architettura (The Four
Books of Architecture), originally published in 1570. That work had a
wide-ranging influence on succeeding generations of architects
throughout Europe. Palladio’s influence outside Italy, most signifi-
cantly in England and in colonial America (see Chapter 29), was
stronger and more lasting than that of any other architect.
Palladio accrued his significant reputation from his many designs
for villas, built on the Venetian mainland. Nineteen still stand, and they
especially influenced later architects. The same spirit that prompted the
ancient Romans to build villas in the countryside motivated a similar
villa-building boom in 16th-century Venice, which, with its very lim-
ited space, was highly congested. But a longing for the countryside was
not the only motive. Declining fortunes prompted the Venetians to de-
velop their mainland possessions with new land investment and recla-
mation projects. Citizens who could afford it set themselves up as aris-
tocratic farmers and developed swamps into productive agricultural
land. Wealthy families could look on their villas as providential invest-
ments. The villas were thus aristocratic farms surrounded by service
outbuildings (like the much later American plantations, which emu-
lated many aspects of Palladio’s architectural style). Palladio generally602 Chapter 22 ITALY,1500 TO 160022-30Andrea Palladio,plan of the Villa Rotonda (formerly
Villa Capra), near Vicenza, Italy, ca. 1550–1570. (1) dome, (2) porch.
Palladio published an influential treatise on architecture in 1570.
Consistent with his design theories, all the parts of the Villa Rotonda
relate to one another in terms of calculated mathematical ratios.0 10 20 30 feet
0 5 10 metersN2222122-29Andrea
Palladio,Villa
Rotonda (formerly
Villa Capra), near
Vicenza, Italy,
ca. 1550–1570.
Andrea Palladio’s
Villa Rotonda has
four identical facades,
each one resembling
a Roman temple with
a columnar porch. In
the center is a great
dome-covered rotunda
modeled on the
Pantheon (FIG. 10-49).