Biography of Andrea Palladio (1508 – 1580)

Son of Pietro della Gondola, miller, and Marta knows as "la zota", Andrea was born in Padua in 1508. At the age of thirteen he joined the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, a Paduan stonemason, who he didn't get along with: in 1524, after a first failed attempt, he managed to escape to Vicenza, where he began working as an assistant on the building sites run by Giovanni Pedemuro. Having come into contact with circles close to Vicenza's aristocracy, around 1535 he became acquainted with Giangiorgio Trissino - a nobleman who had access to the most illustrious Italian courts and an author of theatrical and poetical works, who, having first called him in to collaborate on the building of the Villa Trissino at Cricoli, he decided to put him under his protection, changing his name to the more classical sounding Palladio (meaning "sacred to Pallade Athena"). The meeting turned out to be crucial: the poet took it upon himself to provide him with his cultural training based primarily on the study of the classics, and was to lead him quite a few times to Rome. In the "Eternal City", Palladio was finally able to acquire a profound understanding of the syntax of the classical aesthetic, thanks to the opportunity of studying those monuments and architectures that he had always loved from life, and he paid particular attention to the materials used, the construction techniques, the spatial juxtapositions. During his many visits with his patron he also had the opportunity of meeting the most celebrated figures of his time, such as Michelangelo, Sebastiano Serlio, Giulio Romano, Bramante.
Around 1540 he began working independently as an architect, on works such as the Civena Palace in Ponte Furo (Vicenza) and the Villa Godi at Lonedo, that granted him a certain notoriety; but his real break through took place in 1549, when the Council of the City of Vicenza entrusted him with the task of rebuilding the Loggias of the Vicenza Basilica, replacing the old ones that dated back to the 15th century.
Around 1550 the meeting with the Venetian nobleman Daniele Barbaro took place, with whom he was to collaborate on a new edition of Vitruvius' treatise. Thanks to Barbaro his commissions increased within the folds of the lagoon aristocracy and this led to the season of the great Palladian villas, which offered the architect the opportunity for new experimentations: thus came into being those works of absolute beauty such as the palazzo Chiericati and the villa Barbaro at Maser, the "Malcontenta" at Mira and the Venetian churches of Redentore and S. Giorgio Maggiore, right up to the well-known Rotonda (1567-1620).
The year 1570 was to see the publication of the "four books on architecture", a work which, according to Vasari, "will suffice to grant him fame as the great architect that he is considered to be by anyone who sees his beautiful works": not just a summarisation of his early production, but also a very through examination, coursed with a didactic intent, of his own ideas and his own works.
During the Seventies he was in Venice, as the official architect for the Serenissima; in 1580 the work on the teatro Olimpico in Venice began, built following a request from the Accademici Olimpici for the performance of a classical tragedy. Before the work was completed, Palladio passed away, on the 19th of August 1580.

LINKS

# Palladio's Italian Villas
# Andrea Palladio, un Maestro del suo tempo
# Andrea Palladio
# Un itinerario tra ville vicentine e committenti
# Palladio's Buildings
# Comune di Vicenza (only in Italian)
# UNESCO World heritage site number 712
# wikipedia about Andrea Palladio