Andrea Palladio – Biography of Andrea Palladio

Son of the miller Pietro della Gondola and his wife Marta, Andrea Palladio, whose full name was Andrea di Pietro della Gondola, was born in Padua on November 30, 1508.

In the city of the saint, Andrea gained his first experiences as a stonemason in the workshop of Bartolomeo Cavazza da Sossano, a trade he learned under particularly harsh conditions. In 1524, in fact, after a first unsuccessful attempt, he managed to flee to Vicenza: here he went to work in the Pedemuro San Biagio store, in the hands of Giovanni Giacomo de Porlezza and Girolamo Pittoni de Lumignano, at the time, very famous sculptors in Vicenza.

Between 1535 and 1538 he was presented with the opportunity that will radically change his life: while working in the courtyard of the suburban village Cricoli, he met Giangiorgio Trissino, a poet and humanist, who took him under his wing. It was precisely Trissino who nicknamed him Palladio, who guided him in his cultural training based mainly on the study of the classics and who took him on different occasions to Rome.

In that city, Andrea He first came into contact with the architecture he had learned to love, being able to see imperial monuments live, admiring beauty and studying materials, construction techniques and spatial relationships. But the trips with his patron also meant meeting the “greats” of the time: Miguel Ángel, Sebastiano Serlio, Giulio Romano, Bramante.

Around 1540 he began his autonomous activity as an architect, with works such as the Palazzo Civena in Ponte Furo (Vicenza) and the Villa Godi in Lonedo.

In 1549 it was definitively consecrated with the reconstruction of the loggias of the Basilica of Vicenza, replacing the originals from the 14th century. The project of Palladio It was the best in a tough competition, where important architects of the time such as Serlio, Sansovino, Sanmicheli, Giulio Romano participated. Since then, the noble families of Vicenza and Venice disputed the services of Palladio.

Thus began the most intense period of Palladio, which would be translated into works of absolute beauty, from the Palazzo Chiericati to Villa Barbaro of Maser, from the “Malcontenta“in Look at the Venetian Churches of the Redeemer and S. Giorgio Maggiore, and the famous and well known Roundabout.

In 1570 Palladio published the treatise The Four Books of Architecture, expression of their culture, their ideals and also their practical experience.

During that decade it was also in Venice “proto“, that is to say, consultant of architecture of the Serenissima.

Between February and March 1580, work began on the construction of the Olympic Theater, built at the request of the Olympic Academicians (Andrea himself had been a founding member in 1556) for the representation of classical works. However, before the job could be completed, Palladio died August 19, 1580.