Blogging from Vicenza, Italy on November 16th, 2019
Bloggers: Leo and Ben
Steps Taken: 17, 400
Like Hercules, tasked by Eurystheus to chase the elusive stag of Arcadia, we departed from the hotel Christina at 9am in search of the works of Andrea Palladio, an Italian Renaissance architect and fellow classical enthusiast. Virtually every corner of the Venetian Republic bears physical evidence of Palladio’s footprint. In Vicenza alone, nearly 23 buildings designed by Palladio stand to this day.
Palladio, like Hercules, followed an unusual path to greatness. Born in 1508 to a humble family in Vicenza, and named Andrea di Pietro, Palladio was apprenticed as a stonecutter at a young age. He worked uneventfully until 1538, when the Italian humanist and poet Gian Giorgio Trissino took him under his wing and exposed him to classical antiquity. As he studied the classics, he synthesized his experience as a stonecutter with the architecture of ancient Rome, and ultimately became one of the most important architects of the late Renaissance.
At the Vicenza town center, we encountered our first evidence of Palladio’s greatness with the basilica. Palladio symbolically enveloped the Gothic town hall with the facade of a classical basilica, and in so doing, physical manifested Italy’s return to classical antiquity after centuries of medieval architecture.
After staring extensively at the Vicenza basilica, Professor Ulrich pointed out to us that we quite literally stood in the shadow of another Palladian building. As we turned around, we stared at the intimidating partial facade where the Venetian-appointed ruler of Vicenza would have lived and conducted business.
After our preliminary introduction to Palladio and his architectural style, the group continued to the Teatro Olimpico. This was Palladio’s last official project, and sadly the building was not completed until after his death in 1580. As the name suggests, the “Olympic Theater” is Palladio’s recreation of a Greek/ Roman theater. Palladio was part of a wealthy, elite group that reproduced ancient dramas and comedies, and so he created this theater area so that these shows could be put on a unique Greek/ Roman space.
The group took their seats in the amphitheater hemicycle seating and marveled at the elaborately decorated front facade of the theater wall, known as the “Scaenae fons” (lit. ” spring/ fountain of the theater”), with its statues, relief sculptures, and three entrance ways characteristic of a typical Roman theater. This theater, although a recreation of the late 16th Century, effectively gave the group a good visual idea of the spacial layout of a theater, and is the most accurate re-creation of a theater we have seen on this trip. The Latin-ites of the trip also rejoiced in the subtle allusion to the Cave of the Cybele from Book 6 of Vergil’s Aeneid from an inscription above the stage – “Hoc opus hic labor est” (lit. “This work, this is the labor”). The quote holds special significance for the group as we visited the (supposed) cave only a month ago!
The group’s last stop for the day was yet another Palladium structure, the Villa Rotunda. What was suppose to be a horrible day of rain turned into a sunshiny and dry afternoon, perfect for the afternoon walk to get to the Villa. Inspired by the Pantheon in Rome, the building itself is perfectly symmetrical and has four, temple like front facades built around a central dome. The house was set upon a hill top with a beautiful overlook of fields, and inside the sights only became more marvelous with the painted ceilings and grandiosity of the rooms.