The most imitated villa in history
On a hill just outside Vicenza, surrounded by meadows and woods, Villa Almerico Capra, known as La Rotonda, is the most famous of Andrea Palladio's villas and one of the most influential buildings in the history of architecture. It was built from 1566 for the cleric Paolo Almerico, who had returned to his native town after a career at the papal court in Rome, as a place for leisure and study rather than a farm.
Palladio designed it as a perfect ideal form: a square building with an identical Ionic portico in the shape of a temple front on each of the four sides, each reached by a wide staircase, and at the centre a circular hall crowned by a dome, inspired by the Pantheon. From each portico the view opens onto a different landscape, the city, the hills, the river, the countryside, as Palladio himself explained in his Four Books of Architecture. Completed after his death by Vincenzo Scamozzi, the villa inspired countless imitations: Chiswick House in London, Mereworth Castle in Kent and Thomas Jefferson's Monticello in Virginia, among others. The interior is decorated with frescoes and stuccoes of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
Tip: the gardens are open more often than the interior, which can be visited on certain days; the villa is a pleasant walk from the centre of Vicenza, passing Villa Valmarana ai Nani with frescoes by Tiepolo.
Where it is
More things to see in Veneto
Where to stay near Vicenza
Tours and activities nearby
Offers from GetYourGuide. Some links are affiliate links: if you book we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.