UNESCO City of Vicenza

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I’ve always been interested in UNESCO sites all around the world after visiting the Borobudur Temple in Indonesia several years back. I was thrilled to learn that one of the UNESCO sites protected in Italy, apart from Roman Forum and others, is the town of Vicenza. Vicenza is the home of Palladian architecture, which defines the classic Italian Reneissance architecture in late fourteenth century.


Paladio’s nest

Andrea Paladio (1508-1580) contributed most of the cultures we experienced in town of Vicenza, including the world famous Paladio’s Villa Rotunda (c. 1571) in outskirt of Vicenza, which was perfectly shaped and symmetrical from all angles. From the inside, the villa felt more aesthetic than functional to my modern standard, but I could imagine aristocrat people back in the fourteenth century lived in the villa. Everything was perfectly designed with symmetry and frescoed so vivid and colorful. Although we couldn’t take any pictures inside the villa, but of course we managed to snap a picture or two of the frescoes. My friend Arphan took many pictures of the villa details before the villa's groundskeeper yelled at him, which was echoed throughout the villa’s rooms.

From the outside, it was weird to see how the villa sits in the middle of nowhere but cornfields. It felt like home of Iowa, surrounded by cornfields once again. We posed so many different styles with the villa, which most of them turned out to be stupid pictures.




- Andrea Palladio, translated from Quatro Libri del'Architectura


The town center of Vicenza reflects the elegant but yet simple life style in the 1500s. Many limestone and marble structures designed by Palladio, aligning along the streets of Vicenza. Another famous site by Palladio is the Teatro Olimpico (c. 1584), where he played with fake perspectives and theatrical effect to create the stage theatrical performances. It seemed that Palladio referred many Greek terminologies in his design.

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