Palladian Route

Andrea Palladio was born in Padua to Pietro della Gondola and Marta called "la zotta" (limping Martha). At the age of 16 he went to live in Vicenza, where he took his education and became one of the greatest architects of his time, and not only his time, thanks to the style called "Palladianism", which spread all over the world: from the White House in Washington to the Queen's House in Britain, from the University of Virginia to numerous palaces of St. Peterborough and Puskin.

Almost al portraits ascribed to Palladio show the text "architetto vicentino", architect from Vicenza, and only in mid-twentieth century his birth town was discovered. Many other aspects of his life are uncertain: his birthplace, the family home in Vicenza, his features, the cause of his death and the place he died, and even the place he was buried. Gian Giorgio Trissino, his big mentor, was certainly right to give him the name Palladio, as though he was an angel or a mythological, or supernatural character.

One thing is certain: Vicenza, as UNESCO declared, has been universally recognised as the town of Palladio and has inscribed 23 monuments of its historic town centre and 16 villas of its province onto the World Heritage List, which are all ascribed to the architecture genius. With this little guide book we would like to accompany you on the discovery of the Palladian route into imagined harmony in the historic town centre of Vicenza.