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Palazzo Thiene
now Banca Popolare Vicentina
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Contrà San Gaetano Thiene
tel. 0444 542131, fax 0444 544519
www.gruppopopolarevicenza.it - palazzothiene@popvi.it
Oct-Apr, tue. and wed. 9-12/15-18
May-Sept., wen. and fri. 9-12/15-18, sat. 9-12
Free admission by booking
The design for Palazzo Thiene was published by Andrea Palladio in his treatise, "The Four Books of Architecture". However, as Martin Kubelìk points out in a recent study, archive investigations suggest that the building may have been the invention of Giulio Romano and that Palladio only supervised the work. The ambitious design called for a square structure that would take up all of the present block between Contrà San Gaetano Thiene, Stradella Banca Popolare, Contrà Porti and Corso Palladio. A small section was built between 1556 and 1558 at the corner of Contrà San Gaetano Thiene and Stradella Banca Popolare. As Kubeliìk notes, if Palladio had built the entire palace, he would not have been able to respect the orthogonal form of the structure shown in his "Four Books" because of the irregularity of the area which was not sufficient to contain the monumental complex.
The existing facade has two floors: the lower is definied by rusticated stone and plastered bricks; while the upper is lightly rusticated and measured by Corinthian pilaster strips and windows.The latter are tabernacle style with small, alternate, triangular and curved gables crowning pairs of Ionic columns. Only two sides of the court were built: "encompassed all round with loggia's of pilasters. In the first order they are Rustic, and in the second of the Composite order...The rooms of this fabrick that are now finished, have been adorned with the most beautiful stucco's, by Mister Alessandro Vittoria, and Mister Bartolomeo Ridolfi; and with paintings, by Mister Anselmo Canera, and Mister Bernardino India of Verona, not inferior to any of the present age". (A. Palladio)
It stands next to the 16th-century Palazzo Thiene by Lorenzo da Bologna.
(Text B. Chiozzi) |
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