7 Loggia del Capitaniato

The Palladian loggia replaces a similar structure which had existed in the same position since the Middle Ages and in which there had been a covered public space at ground floor level and a meeting hall on the upper floor. Funds were allocated for the new building in April 1571 and work began immediately. Palladio delivered the final moulding template drawings in March 1572 and the roof of the building was finished by the end of the same year. Giannantonio Fasolo then painted the caissons of the coffered ceiling of the upper hall, while Lorenzo Rubini executed the stucco work and produced the statues.
Palladio's drawings for the façade facing the square and the front in Contra' del Monte were radically different and had been influenced by two very different situations. A powerful, gigantic order of columns emphasizing the vertical dimension was evidently an appropriate solution for the clear view of the building provided by the open piazza, while the narrower dimensions of the lateral front and of Contra' del Monte resulted in the choice of an order more moderate in size.

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