Vicenza, Palladio-Marostica's heritage , The chess challenge |
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Collection title
Magic Italy - Tourism and Tourists
First broadcast date
02/28/2010
Abstract
Federico Quaranta and Nicola Prudente take us to Veneto to discover Vicenza, the city of the great architect of the Renaissance Andrea Palladio (1508-1580). His province is the birthplace of four major Italian writers of the twentieth century.
Panoramic views of Vicenza: streets, buildings, monuments and scenes of everyday life. The interior of the Palladian Olympic Theatre (1580).
Discovery of local artists 'design and creativity.
In Marostica, a sequence of chess in ancient costumes.
Views of Marostica and fireworks. The interior of a distillery which produces "grappa".
Views of the harvest and illustration of the manufacturing steps.
Broadcaster
RAI - RAI Uno
Audiovisual form
Documentary
Primary theme
Tourist sites
Secondary themes
- Society and way of life / Festivals and traditions
Credits / Cast
- Prudente Nicola - Speaker
- Quaranta Federico - Speaker
Map locations
- Italy - Eastern North - Veneto
Original language
Italian
Context
"Vicenza and the Palladian heritage"
Jean-Lucien Bonillo
The film uses the cultural legacy of the 16th century architect Andrea Palladio (1508-1580) to take a wider look at the town of Vicenza as an intense centre of art and creativity through the ages. In the opening sequence four important 20th century writer-journalists from Vicenza are mentioned: Goffredo Parise, Guido Piovene, Luigi Meneghello and Mario Rigoni-Stern. The final sequence emphasises the extraordinary concentration even now of industries called creative, particularly to do with design, both at Vicenza and in the surrounding Veneto region.
The historic centre of Vicenza, which in 1994 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, includes 23 public and private buildings either by or attributed to Palladio, and three villas close by (including the most famous, the Villa Almerico-Capra called "The Rotunda"). In 1996 21 Palladian villas in the region – mainly holiday residences for Venetian nobles in the 16th century – have been added to the list by UNESCO.
Andrea Palladio has a remarkable place in the history of architecture. He built on the artistic legacy of Quattrocento as well as the progress made by masters like Filippo Brunelleschi and Leon Battista Alberti during the Renaissance to redefined the profession and stature of the architect as artist and humanist intellectual. Palladio owes his universality to his triple training: manual and practical on building sites; intellectual with his masters Giangiorgio Trissino and Danielle Barbaro; archaeological thanks to his trips to Rome which enabled him to perfect his study of classical Roman architecture which is the basis of Palladianism.
His art can be divided into various registers: as the conceiver of buildings from scratch, in a new style and masterly (The Rotunda) and exemplary transformations of existing buildings (Vicenza's old Palazzo della Regione, now a basilica), as theoretician and writer of a treatise on architecture: I quattro Libri dell’ architettura (1570), as an antiquarian who wrote guide books on Rome and erudite, publishing an illustrated commentary on Caesar.
The film emphasises two of his major works, the Basilica and Vicenza's Olympic Theatre.
The major element of the Basilica (called by that name by Palladio, a reference to its model) is a facade with an arcaded Renaissance gallery which remodels the old, existing palazzo sets the tone for the Piazza dei Signori
The theatre was conceived with an optical trick between the auditorium and the stage: trompe l'oeil scenery gives the appearance of an ideal town, long streets drawn with exaggerated perspective to make them look as if they are receding to a distant horizon (a major new tool for Renaissance painting). One of Palladio's pupils, Vincenzo Scamozzi finished the theatre after the master's death
The influence of Palladio's work was immense and the Palladian style has spread to many countries, particularly England and North America.
Brief but indicative bibliography
- Palladio A., Les quatre livres de l’architecture, Paris, ed. Arthaud, 1992. - Première édition : I quattro libri dell’architettura, Venise, Franchesci, 1570.
