Unveils all the beauty of villas surrounding the area of Venice, Padua, Treviso, and Vicenza. Includes pleasure pavilions and farm buildings, offering aspects unavailable to the casual traveler.

visual narration of literary tales. In addition to these renowned artists, the book reveals the extraordinary achievements of many lesser-known painters, among them Giambattista Zelorri, Giovanni Antonio Fasolo, and Ludovico Pozzoserrato in the sixteenth century; Luca Ferrari da Reggio, Giovanni Antonio Pellegrini, and Nicolo Bambini in the seventeenth; and ]acopo Guarana, Antonio Balestra, and Giambattista Crosato in the eighteenth." "Distinguished Venetian art historians Filippo Pedrocco, Massimo Favilla, and Ruggero Rugolo skillfully interweave the explanation of the frescoes' iconography with a lively account of the families who commissioned these monumental art works. The Venetian nobility was inordinately proud of its distinguished lineage and frequently directed the artists to paint subject matter that exalted the family name, such as key episodes from Roman mythology, or alternatively incorporate sly visual digs at particular members of the family. Memorably, the patrons --

The Renaissance architect and builder Andrea Palladio is arguable the most influential architect in Western history, and certainly the most beloved. His sixteenth-century villas in the Italian Veneto revolutionized the course of architecture, and the principles on which he based his work are still felt today. For the past several years, Italian watercolorist Giovanni Giaconi has devoted his talents to creating exquisite large-format pen-and-ink watercolor renderings of all thirty-two of Palladio's villas. Each drawing captures the timeless beauty of Palladian architecture and provides a detailed record of these masterpieces. Together with brief descriptions of each villa, samples of Giaconi's preparatory sketches, and where available, Palladio's own woodcuts, these works of art leave a deep impression of Palladio's oeuvre and give the reader an opportunity to compare the original designs with the actual buildings and their present state of conservation. This beautiful book is a must-have and the perfect gift for architects, travelers, and lovers of Italy and Palladio's architecture.

“Palladian Days is nothing short of wonderful–part adventure, mystery, history, diary, and even cookbook. The Gables’ lively account captures the excitement of their acquisition and restoration of one of the greatest houses in Italy. Beguiled by Palladio and the town of Piombino Dese, they trace the history of the Villa Cornaro and their absorption of Italian life. Bravo!” –Susan R. Stein, Gilder Curator and Vice President of Museum Programs, MonticelloIn 1552, in the countryside outside Venice, the great Renaissance architect Andrea Palladio built Villa Cornaro. In 1989, Sally and Carl Gable became its bemused new owners. Called by Town & Country one of the ten most influential buildings in the world, the villa is the centerpiece of the Gables’ enchanting journey into the life of a place that transformed their own. From the villa’s history and its architectural pleasures, to the lives of its former inhabitants, to the charms of the little town that surrounds it, this loving account brings generosity, humor, and a sense of discovery to the story of small-town Italy and its larger national history.

Drawing on Palladio's original published legacy of approximately 40 designs, the authors attempt to reveal the rigorous geometric rules by which Palladio conceived these structures. Using a computer, they test each rule in every possible application.