Villa Chiericati, Vancimuglio, Italy

Villa Chiericati was designed for Giovanni Chiericati by the architect Andrea Palladio in the early 1550s. In 1996 UNESCO included the villa in the World Heritage Site City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto.

The villa is square and a portico projects from its principal facade. The principal rooms are built upon a piano nobile above a semi-basement. The upper floor is very much of secondary importance. The design of the villa was to be the prototype for Palladio's later works at the Villa Rotonda and the Villa Malcontenta.

Work on the villa stopped after the death of Palladio's client. It was not finally completed until after it had been purchased by Ludovico Porto in 1574. In 1584 he employed the architect Domenico Groppino, who had collaborated with Palladio on other projects, to complete the villa.There is some debate as to the extent Groppino influenced the eventual design of the building. While the portico is undoubtedly by the hand of Palladio himself, the position of the windows is at variance with the architect's own advice in I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura, where he warns against placing windows near the corner of a building lest it weaken the structure (the villa does in fact reveal signs of settlement here).

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User Reviews

Marco Mosole (14 months ago)
Could not visit inside

Mauro (2 years ago)
Villa Chiericati is located in the hamlet of Vancimuglio in the Grumolo delle Abbadesse area, the brick entrance portal opens along the main road that connects Vicenza and Padua, and leads to the villa through a long straight avenue. It was included in the UNESCO heritage list in 1996, together with the other Palladian villas in the Veneto.

Renato GRIGGIO (3 years ago)
One of the many jewels we have in our Veneto region, it's a shame it isn't inhabited and maintained. Let's just hope that in the near future there will be funding for a total recovery because it is an ancient villa that really deserves to be renovated and then there will be the possibility of visiting it.

Francesca Piarulli (4 years ago)
Beautiful but closed the gate and the impression of abandonment

Mark R Davis (4 years ago)
Abandoned and in ruins. Private road from the state road but you can park from the church in front then approach it on foot.

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