Villa Duodo - Architecture

Architecture

Scamozzi, the villas's principal architect, had been a pupil of Palladio and was largely responsible for carrying Palladio's classicising style into the 17th century. His Idea dell'Architettura Universale, published in 1615, coupled with Palladio's I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura (1570) were to spread their classically based architecture throughout Europe and the New World. Villa Duodo was one of Scamozzi's works of his intermediate period, designed when he was forty and fully competent in the use of perspective and proportion.

The villa, which is built on the site of an ancient castle, is constructed of rendered stone with architectural details and motifs in dressed stone. The principal wing, on two floors, centers a lightly projecting bay that resembles a two-storey triumphal arch flanked by two symmetrical bays, each with open Serlian windows decorated with rusticated stone on the ground floor; above the motif continues, however, here in place of side windows are niches containing statuary.

The complex was expanded by Nicola Duodo (1657-1742), the grandson of Francesco Duodo. His expansion included the secondary wing designed by Tirali, which was completed in 1740. This wing, at right angles to the principal wing, is of a far simpler design, also on two floors; it has small rectangular windows relieved by a Serlian window at the centre. This wing is connected to the church by a low closed corridor. The chapel has a low dome crowned by a cupola and a campanile also completed by a cupola. The entrance to the church is through a three-arched portico. The pediment of the portico is in reality a gable to the roof of the church.