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Andrea Palladio is universally regarded as one of the most important architects of the Re-naissance. He was the first "professional architect" and was strongly influenced by Greek and Roman architecture, particularly by Vitruvius. His treatise "Quattro libri dell´architettura" also earned him worldwide recognition. Palladio´s villas meanwhile are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. This book documents and analyzes ten of Palladio´s eighteen surviving villas specifically in terms of their relationship with their natural surroundings; their influence on those surroundings is investigated as well. The selected villas constitute a representative cross section of Palladio´s wide-ranging output. The landscape formations of Veneto, where these villas are located, may be divided into three types: plains surrounded by mountains, arid plains, and marshland. Gerrit Smienk is a landscape architect with many years teaching experience at the TU Delft and the Berlage Institute, Rotterdam, and is a recognized expert on the Italian Renaissance. Andrea Palladio kann zweifelsohne als einer der bedeutendsten Architekten weltweit gelten. Er war der erste "Berufsarchitekt" und wurde durch die römische und griechische Architektur, vornehmlich Vitruv, stark geprägt. Auch seine Abhandlung "Quattro libri dell´architettura" brachte ihm weltweit Anerkennung. Die Villen Palladios gehören inzwischen dem UNESCO Weltkulturerbe an. Die ausgestellten Villen bilden einen repräsentativen Querschnitt des umfangreichen Schaffens Palladios. Die Landschaftsformationen Venetiens, in denen diese Villen stehen, lassen sich in drei Typen aufgliedern: Ebenen, von Bergen umsäumt, Trockenebenen und Marschland. Im Buch werden zehn der 18 erhaltenen Villen Palladios in ihrem spezifischen Zusammenhang zu ihrer jeweiligen landschaftlichen Umgebung dokumentieren und analysieren, ihr Einfluss auf das Landschaftsbild wird untersucht. Der Autor Gerrit Smienk lehrte als Landschaftsarchitekt über viele Jahre an der TU Delft und dem Berlage Institute in Rotterdam und ist ein ausgewiesener Kenner der italienischen Renaissance

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Contents

OVERVIEW

Palladio, theory and practice

Exploring the villas from the air

Traces

Indicators and predecessors

Interpretations and research questions

THE RE-CREATION OF THE VENETIAN TERRAFERMA

State intervention

Drainage and reclamation

Low land and high water

High land and low water

The re-creation of the Venetian terraferma

TEN SELECETED VILLAS

Villa Godi: Recomposing the landsacape

Villa Saraceno: Breathing in the landscape

Villa Pisani in Bagnolo: The jump across the river

Villa Poiana: Broad composition

Villa Badoer: Separation and embrace

Villa Foscari: "In splendid isolation"

Villa Cornaro: Long sightlines

Villa Barbaro: Water machine at the foot of the mountains

Villa Emo: A focal point in an agricultural landscape

Villa Rotonda: All-round symmetry and different on all sides

THE AGRICULTURAL VILLA AS MODEL FARM

The laws of architecture

A paradoxical problem

The residence

The coperto, or farm buildings

The farmyard

Variations on the model

The essence of the model

Plan development in three directions

Spatial synthesis

THE VILLA IN A PRODUCTION LANDSCAPE

Framing

The agricultural domain and parcellation

Buildings and artefacts

Beacons in the landscape

The secret of Palladian staging

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

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