Departing from the model of the wings of the Theatre of Marcellus in Rome, Palladio divided the interior into three aisles, placing centrally four Ionic columns which allowed the reduction of the span of the central cross-vaults, set against lateral barrel vaults. He thus achieved a very statically efficient framework capable of bearing the floor of the hall above without any difficulty. The central columns were then tied to the perimeter walls by fragments of rectilinear entablature, which absorb the irregularities of the atrium plan: in this way he realised a sort of system of serliane, a stratagem conceptually similar to that of the Basilica Palladiana loggias.