Coordinates: 45°31′53″N 11°33′37″E

Villa Capra "La Rotonda"

Villa La Rotonda is a Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern
Villa Capra "La Rotonda"
Italy, and designed by Andrea Palladio. The proper name is Villa Almerico
Capra Valmarana, but it is also known as La Rotonda, Villa Rotonda, Villa UNESCO W orld Heritage Site
Capra and Villa Almerico. The name "Capra" derives from the Capra
brothers, who completed the building after it was ceded to them in 1592.
Along with other works by Palladio, the building is conserved as part of the
World Heritage Site "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the
Veneto".

Contents
Inspiration
Design Location Vicenza, Veneto, Italy
Interior
Part of City of Vicenza and the
Landscape Palladian Villas of the
Film Veneto
Current conditions Criteria Cultural: (i), (ii)
Photo gallery
Reference 712bis-004
Influences
England Inscription 1994 (18th Session)
Palestinian Territories Extensions 1996
Poland
Website www.villalarotonda.it/en
United States of America
Coordinates 45°31′53″N 11°33′37″E
References
Sources
External links

Inspiration
In 1565 a priest, Paolo Almerico, on his retirement from the Vatican (as
referendario apostolico of Pope Pius IV and afterwards Pius V), decided to
return to his home town of Vicenza in the Venetian countryside and build a
country house. This house, later known as 'La Rotonda', was to be one of
Palladio's best-known legacies to the architectural world. Villa Capra may
have inspired a thousand subsequent buildings, but the villa was itself
inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Location of Villa Rotonda

Design
The site selected was a hilltop just outside the city of Vicenza. Unlike some
other Palladian villas, the building was not designed from the start to
accommodate a working farm. This sophisticated building was designed for
a site which was, in modern terminology, "suburban". Palladio classed the
building as a "palazzo" rather than a villa.

Villa Capra "La Rotonda" (Italy)

Palladio's plan of Villa La Rotonda, in I
Quattro Libri dell'Architettura1570. The design is for a completely symmetrical building having a square plan with
four facades, each of which has a projecting portico. The whole is contained
within an imaginary circle which touches each corner of the building and
centres of the porticos. (illustration, left). The name La Rotonda refers to the central circular hall with its dome. To describe the villa,
as a whole, as a 'rotonda' is technically incorrect, as the building is not circular but rather the intersection of a square with a cross.
Each portico has steps leading up to it, and opens via a small cabinet or corridor to the circular domed central hall. This and all other
rooms were proportioned with mathematical precision according to Palladio's own rules of architecture which he published in the
Quattro Libri dell'Architettura.[1]

The design reflected the humanist values of Renaissance architecture. In order for each room to have some sun, the design was
rotated 45 degrees from each cardinal point of the compass. Each of the four porticos has pediments graced by statues of classical
deities. The pediments were each supported by six Ionic columns. Each portico was flanked by a single window. All principal rooms
were on the second floor orpiano nobile.

Building began in 1567. Neither Palladio nor the owner, Paolo Almerico, were to see the completion of the villa. Palladio died in
1580 and a second architect, Vincenzo Scamozzi, was employed by the new owners to oversee the completion. One of the major
changes he made to the original plan was to modify the two-storey central hall.

Palladio had intended it to be covered by a high semi-circular dome but Scamozzi designed a lower dome with an oculus (intended to
be open to the sky) inspired by thePantheon in Rome. The dome was ultimately completed with acupola.

Interior
The interior design of the Villa was to be as wonderful, if not more so, than the exterior. Alessandro and Giovanni Battista Maganza
and Anselmo Canera were commissioned to paint frescoes in the principal salons.

Among the four principal salons on the piano nobile are the West Salon (also called the Holy Room, because of the religious nature
of its frescoes and ceiling), and the East Salon, which contains an allegorical life story of the first owner Paolo Almerico, his many
admirable qualities portrayed in fresco.

The highlight of the interior is the central, circular hall, surrounded by a balcony and covered by the domed ceiling; it soars the full
height of the main house up to the cupola, with walls decorated in trompe l'oeil. Abundant frescoes create an atmosphere that is more
reminiscent of a cathedral than the principal salon of a country house.
Landscape
From the porticos, views of the surrounding countryside can be seen; this is no
coincidence as the Villa was designed to be in perfect harmony with the landscape.
This was in complete contrast to such buildings as Villa Farnese of just 16 years
earlier. Thus, while the house appears to be completely symmetrical, it actually has
certain deviations, designed to allow each facade to complement the surrounding
landscape and topography. Hence there are variations in the facades, in the width of
steps, retaining walls, etc. In this way, the symmetry of the architecture allows for
the asymmetry of the landscape, and creates a seemingly symmetrical whole. The
landscape is a panoramic vision of trees and meadows and woods, with Vicenza on
the horizon.

The northwest portico is set onto the hill as the termination of a straight carriage
drive from the principal gates. This carriageway is an avenue between the service
blocks, built by the Capra brothers who acquired the villa in 1591; they
commissioned Vincenzo Scamozzi to complete the villa and construct the range of
staff and agricultural buildings. Interior of the rotonda

Film
In 1979 the American film director Joseph Losey filmed Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's opera Don Giovanni in Villa La Rotonda and
the Veneto region of Italy. The film was nominated for several César Awards in 1980 including Best Director, and has generally been
praised as one of the finer adaptations of opera to the big screen.

Current conditions
In 1994 UNESCO designated the building as part of aWorld Heritage Site.[2]

The last owner of the villa was Mario di Valmarana ( † Oct. 13, 2010), a former professor of architecture at the University of
Virginia.[3] It was his declared ambition to preserve Villa Rotonda so that it may be appreciated by future generations. The interior is
open to the public on Wednesdays and Saturdays, except during the winter months, and the grounds are open every day
.

Photo gallery
 Courtyard and driveway Front Service corridor leading carved marble fireplace
up to building facade mantel over a fireplace

Open pediment over Ornamental moldings Palladio: I quattro libri Palladio: I quattro libri
doorway and fresco painting

Side Shaded view

Influences

England
Five houses have been built in England based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda: Henbury Hall, Cheshire, is the most recent; Chiswick
House, Greater London, and Mereworth Castle, Kent, are protected as listed buildings; Foots Cray Place, Kent, and Nuthall Temple,
Nottinghamshire have been demolished.

Palestinian Territories
The "House of Palestine", built at the top of biblical Mount Gerizim, which towers over the Palestinian city of Nablus, north of
Jerusalem, carefully resembles the Villa Rotonda. It is owned by Palestinian millionaire Munib al-Masri.

Poland
Palaces built in Poland based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda include: Królikarnia Palace and Belweder in Warsaw, Skórzewski Palace in
Lubostroń.
United States of America
For the competition to design the President's House in Washington, DC, Thomas Jefferson anonymously submitted a design that was
a variation on the Villa Rotonda. Though James Hoban's Palladian design for what would become known as the White House was
selected, the influence of the Villa Rotonda can also be seen at Jefferson's own iconic home ofMonticello.

References
1. A. Palladio, I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, Venezia (Venice) 1570, libro (book) II, p. 18 (in Italian)
2. In 1996 the World Heritage Site "Vicenza, City of Palladio" was extended and renamed "C ity of Vicenza and the
Palladian Villas of the Veneto".[1] (http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/712/multiple=1&unique_number=843)
3. UVA Today (Oct 14, 2010). "In Memoriam: Mario di Valmarana" (https://archive.is/20120629093340/http://www.virgini
a.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=13163). Archived from the original (http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRele
ase.php?id=13163) on June 29, 2012. Retrieved May 16, 2011.

Sources
dal Lago, Adalbert (1969).Villas and Palaces of Europe. Paul Hamlyn, ISBN 978-0-600-01235-1.

External links
Description of the building written by the Palladio Museum in iVcenza (in English) (in Italian)
"La rotonda"
"Commentary and Images of Villa Capra" from GreatBuilding.com
Virtually visit an interpretation of the Villa Capra in Second Life.
Architectural analysis of Villa Capra
"Solar Orientation and Historic Buildings". solarhousehistory.com.

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