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VILLA PISANI BONETTI PISANI BONETTI BAGNOLO DI () BAGNOLO DI LONIGO (Vicenza) 10 3 7 Architect Andrea Palladio Architect Andrea Palladio (16 th Century) (16 th Century)

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AVAILABILITY OF THE VILLA

12 12 The Villa can be visited throughout the year by booking 1 in advance. For information contact the secretary’s office in Villa Pisani, BRIEF HISTORICAL OUTLINE CAPTIONS 1 Via Risaie, I-36045 Bagnolo di Lonigo, Vicenza. Telephone +39.0444.831104, Fax +39.0444.835517 illa Pisani Bonetti was planned by Andrea Palladio in 1) Entrance 17) Map Room Email: [email protected] V1541, the date of his return from his first journey to Rome, and was built between 1544 and 1545. It is perhaps 2) 18) Music Room the most representative example of his early period and it 3) Cross-shaped Room 19) North Tower marked the beginning of his marvellous collaboration with the Serene Republic of . Palladio was so proud of this 4) 10) Dining Room work and so conscious of the power of his patrons, the Pisani 5) Principle Façade 11) Large Kitchen family, that he used it to open the section devoted to “Case HOW TO REACH US di Villa”, Villa Homes, in his famous treatise “I Quattro 6) Magistrate’s Drawing-room 12) Cellars Libri dell’Architettura”, The Four Books of , published in Venice in 1570. The Bagnolo Villa was inspired AUTOSTRADA A4 by the ancient buildings of Rome, in particular the baths; it MI VICENZA VE reflected their monumentality and, by doing so, was highly Uscire al casello di MONTEBELLO adapted to represent the installation of the new “fiefdoms” and the power of Venice on the mainland. According to the LONIGO plans in the “Four Books” the building was to have had two NOVENTA main façades: the one facing the river and with grand rusti - VICENTINA cated ashlar can still be admired in its original form. Another change from the plan in Palladio’s treatise is the lack 3 Km. circa of the Doric which should have spread from the sides of the Villa to surround the square rustic courtyard in BAGNOLO front. The area it should have been constructed on has recently been planted with an avenue of plane-trees which gives a visual idea at least of its proportions. Experts, howev - er, do not all agree about the various plans re-elaborated by Palladio in his old age for the publication of his book. Today LEGNAGO the Villa is perfectly conserved due to the work of the previ - ous and current owners. abundant produce of the countryside, mainly rice which right is a monumental stone fireplace. The wrought-iron the Pisanis had introduced into the area and had cultivated firedogs are original; on the walls hang Eighteenth on endless plots of land. Century Flemish still-lifes.. The façade displays an imposing “triumphal ” (note again the use of rustication for the three arches) surmount - 11. The next room is the Large Kitchen, the name refer - YOUR VISIT ed by a tympanum and enclosed by two towers that are ring to its use in the Eighteenth Century when, because reminiscent of the earlier castle of Nogarola, on the ruins of of the flooding of what was originally called the river 1. The visit begins at the entrance facing the countryside. The which the Villa was probably built. Novo, and later the river Guà (the Guai or Troublesome actual façade shows two very important elements: the grand river according to popular tradition), the kitchens were thermal-bath window has recently been reopened and shows moved from the semi- to this upper floor. There the influence of Palladio’s sojourn in Rome; the base, with its 6. After climbing the semicircular staircase, cross the Loggia remain the rustic fire and the raw wood furnishings bear - imposing rustication, is reminiscent of . and re-enter the Atrium to continue the visit in the ing the branded initials of the owners: VPZ stands for Magistrate’s Drawing-room. In this room we find, above the Vettore Pisano Zusto. 2. 3. Through the door beneath the thermal window we fireplace, a portrait of the magistrate Pietro Vettore Pisani, Of great interest is the extraordinary “sink” designed and enter the Central Hall which rises the full height of the painted by the Venetian portraitist Bombelli (18 th Century). sculpted by Palladio himself, and, above the cupboard, building (9 metres). It consists of the Atrium and a Cross- The opposite wall is dominated by a large painting depict - there is another large painting from the workshop of shaped room (3). The barrel-vaults of the Atrium are fres - ing the death of Dido (workshop of Carpioni, 17 th Carpioni representing the Sacrifice of Iphigenia. In this coed with mythological scenes (the myth of Phaeton can be Century). Note the bas-relief at the back of the fireplace room, in 1987, Britain’s Queen Mother dined during her recognised) which are attributed to Francesco Torbido, a showing a phoenix, sadly heavily damaged by the heat. private visit to the Venetian . pupil of Giulio Romano. The cross vault, raised on half- reminiscent of 7. We now pass into the Map Room which hosts a collec - 12. Leaving by the door facing the countryside, and before Sangallo, is decorated with Sixteenth Century . tion of maps belonging to the family and dating from the walking along the avenue leading to the gate at the bottom Under the vault are four scrolls of which only two are now Seventeenth and Eighteenth centuries. The polychrome of the garden (where the amazing proportions of the build - legible; these bear the inscriptions: “IMMENSE O marble fireplace, known as the “Salamander”, is also ing can be admired), we suggest a visit to the semi-base - (…)BNITATIS (…) CLEMENTIA” and “INSPICIAS notable for its sculpted bas-relief showing this mythical ani - ment. These cellars have recently been restored after time- QUIDQUID (…) EST”. The meaning is obscure but it is mal that could survive fire unscathed. consuming excavation work, having been completely aban - a reminder of the original use of this building where the doned for two centuries. Note the powerful bare-brick Pisanis, the lords of the place, administered justice. 8. There then comes the Southern Tower or Music Room. vaults that in fact hold up the bulk of the whole building. The vaulted ceiling is decorated with frescoes by an unknown These rooms were originally the kitchens and service areas. 4. The hall leads to the Loggia. Note the use of a double hand from the Sixteenth Century (among the grotesques of apse which makes this one of the most original of Palladio’s the vault there can be seen a scroll bearing the date of 1549). On the northern side of the great lawn can be seen the spaces. Strangely, in the Loggia are two bells donated in On the walls are represented the ten days of the Decameron Barchesse , a monumental edifice, the exterior of which was 1834 to the Bagnolo church by Chiara Pisani Barbarigo and, on the vault, episodes from “Orlando Furioso”. by a Nineteenth Century architect from , but which and recently returned to the family. inside contains various remains from previous ages, start - 9. The Loggia leads to the Northern Tower, a simple and light ing with the Medieval period. The purpose of this build - 5. By climbing the convex staircase we reach the space in space which owes its luminosity to the S. Gottardo stone flooring. ing was mainly agricultural: note the large areas for grana - front of the Villa from which we can admire the main 10. Continuing along we enter the Dining Room; to the ries and storage held up by imposing beams that measure façade. The edifice was built beside the river (hidden today up to 16 metres long. Along the façade lean large blocks of by a wall acting as a flood barrier) in order to be more read - red marble from Verona, the ancient rice huskers. ily accessible by boat from Venice, and also to send back the