Villa Godi, a patrician villa in Lugo …
Years: 1544 - 1544
Villa Godi, a patrician villa in Lugo di Vicenza, Veneto, is one of the first projects by Andrea Palladio, as attested in his monograph: I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura.
The work had been commissioned by the brothers Girolamo, Pietro and Marcantonio Godi, started in 1537 and concluded in 1542, with later modifications to the rear entry and gardens.
The building is striking for the lack of ornamentation usually associated with Palladio's mature work, and for the refined, symmetrical proportions of the façade and massing of the structure.
The plan is arranged with two apartments on each side of the central axis with a recessed entry loggia and the main salon.
The plan published in I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura indicates that there was intended to be an extensive complex of farm buildings.
This preliminary work by Palladio still demonstrates characteristics of the architecture of his time.
A harmonic unity of landscape and architecture does not yet seem to have been an aspiration.
The building is a massive block consisting of three separate parts.
The representational and living areas are clearly separate from each other and do not present a unified appearance.
The flight of steps is flanked by balusters and, in its width, corresponds to the middle arcade of the loggia.
