View source for Villa La Rotonda

{{short description|Renaissance villa just outside Vicenza in northern Italy}}
{{Infobox UNESCO World Heritage Site
| WHS         = Villa Almerico Capra
| Image       = File:Larotonda2009.JPG
| image_size  = 270
| Caption     =
| Location    = [[Vicenza]], [[Veneto]], [[Italy]]
| part_of     = [[City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto]]
| criteria    = {{UNESCO WHS type|(i), (ii)}}(i), (ii)
| ID          = 712bis-04
| Year        = 1994
| Extension   =	1996
| Coordinates = {{Coord|45.5315|11.5603|format=dms|type:landmark_region:IT|display=title,inline}}
| Area        = {{convert|9.00|ha}}
| website     = {{oweb|https://www.villalarotonda.it/}}
| locmapin    = Italy Veneto#Italy
| map_caption = Location of Villa Rotonda
|Criteria=}}
'''Villa La Rotonda''' is a [[Renaissance]] [[villa]] just outside [[Vicenza]] in [[Northern Italy]] designed by Italian Renaissance architect [[Andrea Palladio]], and begun in 1567, though not completed until the 1590s. The villa's official name is '''Villa Almerico Capra Valmarana''', but it is also known as "La Rotonda", "Villa Rotonda", "Villa Capra", and "Villa Almerico Capra". 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]]".
==Inspiration==
In 1565 a priest, [[Paolo Almerico]], on his retirement from the [[Roman Curia|Vatican]] (as referendario apostolico of [[Pope Pius IV]] and afterwards [[Pius V]]), returned to his home town of [[Vicenza]] in the [[Republic of Venice|Venetian]] countryside and built 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, Rome|Pantheon]] in [[Rome]].
==Design==
The site selected was a hilltop just outside the city of Vicenza. Unlike some other [[Palladian villas of the Veneto]], 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.
[[Image:PalladioRotondaPlan.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Palladio's plan of Villa La Rotonda in ''[[I quattro libri dell'architettura]]'', 1570]]
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 [[Rotunda (architecture)|rotunda]] is technically incorrect, as the building is not circular but rather the intersection of a [[Square (geometry)|square]] with a [[cross]]. Each portico has steps leading up to it, and opens via a small [[Cabinet (room)|cabinet]] or corridor to the circular domed central hall. This and all other rooms were proportioned with mathematical precision according to Palladio's rules of architecture which he published in ''[[I quattro libri dell'architettura]]''.<ref>A. Palladio, ''I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura'', Venezia ([[Venice]]) 1570, ''libro'' (book) II, p. 18 {{in lang|it}}</ref> Work spaces for the villa's servants are hidden underneath the first floor, which is accessed via staircases hidden inside the walls of the central hall.<ref>HKW, Communal Villa, Lecture, 2015. 31 minute mark. https://www.hkw.de/en/app/mediathek/video/47405</ref>
The design reflected the [[Renaissance Humanism|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 [[pediment]]s graced by statues of [[classical antiquity|classical]] [[Deity|deities]]. The pediments were each supported by six [[Ionic order|Ionic]] columns. Each portico was flanked by a single window. All principal rooms were on the second floor or ''[[piano 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.
[[Image:VillaCapra 2007 07 18 7.jpg|thumb|right|Interior of the rotonda]]
Palladio had intended it to be covered by a high semi-circular dome but Scamozzi designed a lower dome with an [[Oculus (architecture)|oculus]] (intended to be open to the sky) inspired by the [[Pantheon, Rome|Pantheon]] in Rome. The dome was ultimately completed with a [[cupola]].
==Interior==
[[File:VillaCapra 2007 07 18 8.jpg|thumb|left|The cupola]]
The interior design of the Villa was to be as wonderful, if not more so, than the exterior.
[[Alessandro Maganza|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'œil]]''.
Abundant frescoes create an atmosphere that is more reminiscent of a cathedral than the principal salon of a country house.
==Landscape==
[[File:Sitting under the shade in front of Villa Capra detta La Rotonda.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|left|Landscape]]
From the porticos, views of the surrounding countryside can be seen; this is purposeful as the Villa was designed to be in harmony with the landscape.
This was in contrast to such buildings as [[Villa Farnese]] of just 16 years earlier.
While the house appears to be completely symmetrical, it actually has deviations, designed to allow each [[façade]] to complement the surrounding landscape and topography. Hence, there are variations in the façades, 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, 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.
==Current conditions==
In 1994 [[UNESCO]] designated the building as part of a [[World Heritage Site]].<ref>In 1996 the World Heritage Site "Vicenza, City of Palladio" was extended and renamed "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto".[https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/712/multiple=1&unique_number=843]</ref>
A former family owner of the villa was Mario di Valmarana (1929–2010), a former professor of architecture at the [[University of Virginia]].<ref>{{cite web|author=UVA Today|title=In Memoriam: Mario di Valmarana|date=14 October 2010|url=http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=13163|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120629093340/http://www.virginia.edu/uvatoday/newsRelease.php?id=13163|url-status=dead|archive-date=29 June 2012|access-date=16 May 2011}}</ref> It was his declared ambition to preserve Villa Rotonda so that it may be appreciated by future generations. His brother was Lodovico Valmarana (1926–2018), Count of Valmarana and Nogara, whose father Count Andrea Valmarana (1891–1976) purchased the villa in 1912, with the villa now owned by Lodovico's son, Count Nicolò Valmarana. The interior is open to the public Friday through Sunday,<ref>{{cite web|author=Villa la Rotonda|title=Orari|date=2021|url=https://www.villalarotonda.it/visita/#orari|access-date=23 August 2021}}</ref> and the grounds are open every day.
==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. [[Don Giovanni (1979 film)|The film]] was nominated for several [[César Awards]] in 1980 including Best Director, and has generally been praised as one of the finer cinematic adaptations of opera.
==Photo gallery==
<gallery mode="packed">
Image:Villa Rotonda front.jpg|Front
Image:Villa Rotonda side.jpg|Side
Image:Villa La Rotonda.JPG|Service corridor leading up to building [[façade]]
Image:Rotonda mantle02.jpg|carved marble [[fireplace mantel]] over a fireplace
Image:Rotonda broken pediment.jpg|[[Open pediment]] over doorway
Image:Rotonda ceiling.jpg|Ornamental [[Molding (decorative)|molding]]s and [[fresco]] painting
Image:Palladio Rotonda seccion Scamozzi 1778.jpg| Palladio: ''I quattro libri''
Image:Palladio Rotonda planta Scamozzi 1778.jpg|Palladio: ''I quattro libri''
</gallery>
==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.
One of the earliest Palladian villas in the north of England is Rokeby Park.
===Palestinian Territories===
[[File:MunibCastle.jpg|thumb|The "House of Palestine" and owner [[Munib al-Masri]] in [[Nabulus]].]]
The "House of Palestine" (''Bayt al-Filastin''), built at the top of biblical [[Mount Gerizim]], which towers over the Palestinian city of [[Nablus]], north of [[Jerusalem]], closely resembles the Villa Rotonda. It is owned by [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] millionaire [[Munib al-Masri]].
===Poland===
Palaces built in [[Poland]] based on Palladio's Villa Rotonda include the [[Królikarnia]] (Rabbit House) Palace, the [[Belweder]] in [[Warsaw]] and the [[Lubostroń Palace|Skórzewski Palace]] in [[Lubostroń]].
===Belarus===
The interior of the main building of the [[Gomel Palace]] in [[Gomel]] in the Eastern [[Belarus]] is based on Villa Rotonda.
===United States===
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 of [[Monticello]].
==See also==
* [[Palladian architecture]]
* [[History of early modern period domes]]
* [[Valmarana family]]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==Sources==
*dal Lago, Adalbert (1969). ''Villas and Palaces of Europe''. [[Hamlyn (publishers)|Paul Hamlyn]], {{ISBN|978-0-600-01235-1}}.
{{commons category|Villa Capra "La Rotonda"}}
==External links==
* [https://www.villalarotonda.it/?lang=en Official website] in English
*[http://www.palladiomuseum.org/veneto/opera/41?lang=en Description of the building written by the Palladio Museum in Vicenza] {{in lang|en|it}}
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20000310070104/http://ville.inews.it/erotonda.htm "La rotonda"]
*[http://www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Villa_Capra.html "Commentary and Images of Villa Capra" from GreatBuilding.com]
*[http://slurl.com/secondlife/Melioria/141/211/23/?img=http%3A//lh5.ggpht.com/_IqFPI3bgF78/Sp9KDaTE8tI/AAAAAAAAAGg/v3TteCorAag/s288/villa-vesuviana-dedication-pic.png&title=An%20interpretation%20of%20the%20Villa%20Capra%20%22La%20Rotonda%22%20in%20Second%20Life&msg=Virtually%20visit%20an%20interpretation%20of%20the%20Villa%20Capra%20%22La%20Rotonda%22%20in%20Second%20Life. Virtually visit an interpretation of the Villa Capra in Second Life.]
*[http://sites.google.com/site/palladianvilla/ Architectural analysis of Villa Capra]
*{{cite web
| title = Solar Orientation and Historic Buildings
| publisher = solarhousehistory.com
| url = http://solarhousehistory.com/blog/2013/7/5/solar-orientation-and-historic-buildings }}
{{Andrea Palladio}}
{{Landmarks of Veneto}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Villa Capra La Rotonda}}
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1592]]
[[Category:Houses completed in the 16th century]]
[[Category:Renaissance architecture in Vicenza]]
[[Category:Villas in Vicenza|Capra]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in Italy]]
[[Category:Andrea Palladio buildings]]
[[Category:Domes]]
[[Category:Rotundas in Europe]]
[[Category:Museums in Veneto]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Italy]]
[[Category:Palladian villas of Veneto]]