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In about 1540 Palladio designed his first villa, at Lonedo for Girolamo de' Godi, which has a plan with similarities to traditional Venetian country houses. It contains all the elements of Palladio's future villa designs, including symmetrical flanking wings for stables and barns and a walled courtyard in front of the house. He developed a prototype plan which could change in scale and function to serve as a summer residence of an urban aristocrat or the estate headquarters of a gentleman farmer. Included in the former category is the least typical and most widely copied of Palladio's villa designs, the Villa Rotonda, near Vicenza.
Palladio adapted the classical temple front to the façades of his villas because it had the dignity suitable for an entrance. Sometimes, as at the Villa Cornaro (c. 1560-65) at Piombino Dese and the Villa Pisani (c. 1553-55) at Montagnana, the portico is two-storied, with principal rooms on two floors. Normally (as at the Villa Foscari at Mira, called Malcontenta [1560]; the Villa Emo at Fanzolo [late 1550s]; and the Villa Badoer), the porch covers one major story and the attic, the entire structure being raised on a base that contains service areas and storage. In a third type the temple front covers the whole front of the house, as at the Villa Barbaro (c. 1555-59) at Maser.
Palladio's villas were planned as total complexes but could be built in part to satisfy the owner's immediate requirements. He attached great importance to the courts that flanked or stood in front of the house, since they extended its axial symmetry and proportion.
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| Works by Palladio |
| Churches in Venice |
| Palaces in Vicenza |
| Villas in Veneto |
| Other constructions |
