The Villa Pisani in Montagnana

In the heart of Montagnana, Veneto, Italy, stands the Villa Pisani, a testimony to the Renaissance. Designed by Andrea Palladio about 1552 for Cardinal Francesco Pisani, construction of the villa was under way by September 1553 and was completed in 1555. Unlike many typical Palladian villas in rural settings, it features an upper storey set apart from the main floor public reception rooms, with twin suites of apartments accessed by twin oval staircases flanking a central recess on the garden side.

The exterior of the villa shows little differentiation between floors, and on the garden front, a balustrade above a deep ditch keeps out informal wanderers. The central block is an uncompromising rectangle with a pedimented tetrastyle portico, Ionic over Doric, which has been sunk into its wall-plane so that the columns are embedded half-columns. Access to the park is provided from the central recessed portico only, which is surmounted by a loggia.

In 1996, UNESCO included the Villa Pisani in the World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto". The villa continues to be in private ownership. It remains a significant architectural influence, inspiring structures such as the Hammond-Harwood House in Annapolis, Maryland, Kinlet Hall in the United Kingdom, the old main building of the Ludwigsburg Palace, Drayton Hall in South Carolina, and Wilanów Palace in Warsaw.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons