Loggia del Capitaniato, Palazzo dei Signori, Vicenza Architect:
Andrea Palladio (1571). Photograph: Jonathon Makepeace (1999)
Copyright: Jonathan Makepeace / RIBA Library Photographs
Collection Palladio is best known for his villas, an
extraordinary clutch of some 29 country houses located around
Vicenza. Illustrated in I Quattro Libri dell’ Architettura ,
these have long received the admiration of architects and
writers, ranging from Inigo Jones and Goethe to Le Corbusier .
Historically, the villas were a destination of the Grand Tour ;
now they are the highpoints of an architectural pilgrimage to
Northern Italy. However, Palladio’s oeuvre is far wider than the
villas. What’s more, not all of his buildings were described in
the Quattro Libri. After all, Palladio continued to work for
another decade after its publication in 1570. The Loggia dei
Capitaniato for example, shown here, does not feature in the
book as building only began in 1571. And, like many of
Palladio’s later buildings, it was unfinished. Pall