The three-fold arcade of Villa Gazzotti Grimani

Located in the village of Bertesina, near Vicenza in the Veneto region of northern Italy, the Villa Gazzotti Grimani was built in the 1540s. It is an early work of the architect Andrea Palladio. The villa was originally designed and built for the Venetian Taddeo Gazzotti, who faced financial problems in 1550 and sold the property to Girolamo Grimani before the building was even completed.

The villa shows a clear desire by the commissioner to make his influence visible. For the first time, Palladio presents the body of the building as a clearly defined cube. The facade is dominated by a three-fold arcade in the central section, which is reminiscent of Villa Godi and is crowned by a pediment. While the arcade takes up the entire height of the one-story building, the use of a pediment as a symbol of dignity was a new expression for existing forms rather than an entirely original body of thought.

Palladio used a plastic structure to give the wall surface shape. Eight pilasters with Composite capitals divide the facade into eight vertical rhythms, while the central part is slightly offset. In this design, the windows are connected firmly to the body of the building by a lower ledge and have become independent structural elements on the facade through their plastic profiles and protruding triangular gables. The villa currently requires restoration, as the exterior stucco has peeled to expose the underlying brickwork.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons