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Villa Foscari

 

 
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Villa Foscari
 
 
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Villa Foscari is a patrician
Patricianship

Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a class of patrician families whose members were the only people allowed to exercise many political functions....
 villa
Villa

A villa was originally an upper-class country house, though since its origins in Roman Republic times the idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably....
 in Mira, near Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
, northern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio

Andrea Palladio , was a Republic of Venice architect, widely considered the most influential architect in the Architectural history. He was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture....
. It is also known as La Malcontenta, a nickname which it received when the spouse of one of the Foscaris was locked up in the house because she allegedly didn't live up to her conjugal duty.

villa was commissioned by the brothers Nicolo and Luigi Foscari, members of a patrician Venetian family that produced Francesco Foscari
Francesco Foscari

Francesco Foscari was Doges of Venice of Venice from 1423 to 1457, at the inception of the Italian Renaissance.Foscari, of an ancient noble family, served the Republic of Venice in numerous official capacities?as ambassador, president of the Forty, member of the Council of Ten, inquisitor, , avvogadore di comun?before he was elected...
, one of Venice's most noted doges
Doge of Venice

The Doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy....
.






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Villa Foscari is a patrician
Patricianship

Patricianship, the quality of belonging to a patriciate, began in the ancient world, where cities such as Ancient Rome had a class of patrician families whose members were the only people allowed to exercise many political functions....
 villa
Villa

A villa was originally an upper-class country house, though since its origins in Roman Republic times the idea and function of a villa has evolved considerably....
 in Mira, near Venice
Venice

Venice is a city in northern Italy, the capital city of the Italian regions Veneto, a population of 271,251 . Together with Padua, Italy, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area ....
, northern Italy
Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
, designed by the Italian architect Andrea Palladio
Andrea Palladio

Andrea Palladio , was a Republic of Venice architect, widely considered the most influential architect in the Architectural history. He was influenced by Roman and Greek architecture....
. It is also known as La Malcontenta, a nickname which it received when the spouse of one of the Foscaris was locked up in the house because she allegedly didn't live up to her conjugal duty.

Architecture

The villa was commissioned by the brothers Nicolo and Luigi Foscari, members of a patrician Venetian family that produced Francesco Foscari
Francesco Foscari

Francesco Foscari was Doges of Venice of Venice from 1423 to 1457, at the inception of the Italian Renaissance.Foscari, of an ancient noble family, served the Republic of Venice in numerous official capacities?as ambassador, president of the Forty, member of the Council of Ten, inquisitor, , avvogadore di comun?before he was elected...
, one of Venice's most noted doges
Doge of Venice

The Doge was the chief magistrate and leader of the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years. Doges of Venice were elected for life by the city-state's aristocracy....
. It was built between 1558 and 1560. It is located beside the Brenta
Riviera del Brenta

Riviera del Brenta is the coastline of a channel of the Brenta River which runs from Padua and through the Veneto countryside to Venice, in the North-east of Italy....
 canal and is raised on a pedestal, which is characteristic of Palladio's villas; this pedestal is more massive than most of Palladio's villas (the base is 11 feet high, more than twice the height Palladio normally used) because it was not possible to construct a subterranean basement on the site.

The villa lacks the agricultural buildings which were an integral part of some of the other Palladian villas. It was used for official receptions, such as that given for Henry III of France
Henry III of France

Henry III of France , born Alexandre-?douard de Valois-Angoul?me, was King of France from 1574 to 1589, and as Henry of Valois, first elected List of Polish rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and List of Lithuanian rulers#Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from 1573 to 1574....
 in 1574.

Decorative scheme


The interior of the villa is richly decorated with fresco
Fresco

Fresco is any of several related painting types, done on plaster on walls or ceilings. The word fresco comes from the Italian word affresco which derives from the adjective fresco , which has Latin origins....
es by Battista Franco and Giambattista Zelotti. Mythological scenes from Ovid
Ovid

Publius Ovidius Naso was a Roman Empire poet known as Ovid to the English language-speaking world, who wrote about love, seduction, and Roman mythology transformation....
 alternate with allegories of the Arts and Virtues. As at other Palladian villas, the paintings reflect villa life in, for example, Astraea showing Jove the pleasures of the Earth. The frescoes have dulled over time, signs of the increasing threat that air pollution poses to works of art.

Recent history

In 1973, Antonio Foscari (a descendant of the Foscari lineage) and his wife, Barbara del Vicario, recovered the villa, and have undertaken a painstaking process of restoring the villa to its original grandeur. Since 1996 the building has been conserved as part of the World Heritage Site
World Heritage Site

A UNESCO World Heritage Site is a site that is on the list maintained by the international World Heritage Programme administered by the UNESCO World Heritage Committee, composed of 21 Sovereign state which are elected by their General Assembly for a four-year term....
 "City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto
Palladian Villas of the Veneto

The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site protecting a cluster of works by the architect Andrea Palladio....
". Today, the villa is open to the public for visits on a limited basis.

See also


  • Palladian Villas of the Veneto
    Palladian Villas of the Veneto

    The City of Vicenza and the Palladian Villas of the Veneto is a World Heritage Site protecting a cluster of works by the architect Andrea Palladio....

External links