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When in 1565 a priest Paolo Almerico on his retirement from the Vatican as (referendario apostolico of Pope Pius IV and afterwards Pius V) decided to return to his home town of Vicenza in the Venetian countryside and build a country house, he could not have foreseen that that the house he commissioned from the architect Andrea Palladio would become one of the most inspirational architectural prototypes for the next five hundred plus years. However if Villa Capra, La Rotonda, has inspired a thousand subsequent houses, then the villa itself was undoubtedly inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. During his lifetime, Palladio designed more than 20 villas on the Venetian mainland. This house later known as 'La Rotonda' was to be one of his most well known legacies to the architectural world.
The site selected was a hilltop just outside the city of Vicenza, at the time it was the fashion to be what is called today a 'gentleman farmer', buoyed by arcadian values prosperous Italians wished to enjoy the simple life. As a single man Almerico had no need of a vast Palazzo, but wished for a sophisticated Villa, and this is exactly what Palladio produced for him.
Building began circa 1566 of a square building, completely symmetrical, as though an imaginary circle touched the walls of the square at any given point (illustration, right). To describe the villa as a 'rotonda' is technically incorrect, the building is not circular, but the intersection of a square with a cross. Each of the four facades was to have a portico with steps leading up, each of the four principal entrances was to lead via a small cabinet or corridor to the circular domeA dome is a common structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Domes do not have to be perfectly spherical in cross-section, however; it is sufficient that they simply be curved surfaces. A saucer dome is a dome sed central hall. This and all other rooms were proportioned with mathematical precision, according to Palladio's own rules of architecture which he ordained in the Quattro Libri dell'Architettura.
The design reflected the humanist values of renaissance architectureRenaissance Architecture The cultural movement called the Renaissance (which literally means re-birth) was just that in architecture, a rebirth of the Roman traditions of design. It was expressed in a new emphasis on rational clarity and regularity of par. In order for each room to have some sun, the design was rotated 45 degrees from each cardinal point of the compass (North-West, South-East etc.). Each of the four porticos had pedimentA pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure ( entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. It is found in classical architecture such as the Greek temple, ts graced by statues of classicalThe word classical has several meanings: Pertaining to the societies of the classical antiquity, ancient Greece or Rome. For example, the Greek and Latin languages, classical architecture and the cult of the Olympian gods. See also Greek mythology and Rom deities. The pediments were each supported by six ionicIonic has several meanings, which include greek origins and chemical descriptions. Greece Ionic can mean from or related to Ionia, the name of the western coast of Asia Minor in the period of ancient Greece. Ionic order (a style in classical architecture) columns. Each portico was flanked by a single window. All principal rooms were on a second floor piano nobile.
Palladio, and also the owner, Paolo Almerico, were not to see the completion of the villa, Palladio died in 1580, a second architect Vincenzo Scamozzi was employed, by the new owners to oversee the completion. One of the major changes he made to the original plan, was to the two storey centre hall, Palladio had intended it to be covered by a high semi-circular dome. However, Scamozzi designed a lower dome with the oculus, originally, intended to be open to the sky, inspired by Rome's pantheon. The dome was built however with a cupola.