Table of Contents

Contents

OVERVIEW

Palladio, theory and practice

Exploring the villas from the air

Traces

Indicators and predecessors

Interpretations and research questions

THE RE-CREATION OF THE VENETIAN TERRAFERMA

State intervention

Drainage and reclamation

Low land and high water

High land and low water

The re-creation of the Venetian terraferma

TEN SELECETED VILLAS

Villa Godi: Recomposing the landsacape

Villa Saraceno: Breathing in the landscape

Villa Pisani in Bagnolo: The jump across the river

Villa Poiana: Broad composition

Villa Badoer: Separation and embrace

Villa Foscari: "In splendid isolation"

Villa Cornaro: Long sightlines

Villa Barbaro: Water machine at the foot of the mountains

Villa Emo: A focal point in an agricultural landscape

Villa Rotonda: All-round symmetry and different on all sides

THE AGRICULTURAL VILLA AS MODEL FARM

The laws of architecture

A paradoxical problem

The residence

The coperto, or farm buildings

The farmyard

Variations on the model

The essence of the model

Plan development in three directions

Spatial synthesis

THE VILLA IN A PRODUCTION LANDSCAPE

Framing

The agricultural domain and parcellation

Buildings and artefacts

Beacons in the landscape

The secret of Palladian staging

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

ILLUSTRATION CREDITS

About the Author

Gerrit Smienk: Niederländischer Landschaftsarchitekt und Autor, der an der TU Delft, der Academy of Archietcture in Amsterdam und dem Berlage Institut lehrte. Zahlreiche Publikationen, u.a. "Italian Villas and Gardens" mit P. van der Ree und C. Steenbergen beim Prestel Verlag, 1992.