Villa Trissino

Villa Trissino is an incomplete aristocratic villa designed by Andrea Palladio, situated in the hamlet of Meledo. It was intended for the brothers Ludovico and Francesco Trissino. It should not to be confused with Villa Trissino at Cricoli, which is 20 km away, just outside Vicenza.

Villa Trissino, like most of the Palladian villas, was to be the centre of an agricultural estate built for an aristocratic family. What survives at Meledo is two sections of the villa's extending colonnade, which would have been used for the utilitarian functions, something like a farmyard.

At the end of the wing in the photo there is a dovecote, a feature also found at Villa Barbaro. The dovecote of Villa Trissino is decorated with frescoes, indicating that even within the utilitarian portions of the villa, great care was given to create aesthetic beauty. The dovecote tower was frescoed with grotesques by Eliodoro Forbicini (a Veronese painter mentioned by Vasari), who also worked in Palladio’s Palazzo Chiericati and Palazzo Thiene. It is an evident sign that the building’s function was not just utilitarian.

At Villa Trissino, the twenty-first century visitor will find no Palladian house, only the start of the two extending wings can be seen.

References:

• Wikipedia

Address

Via Gian Giorgio Trissino 2, Meledo, Italy

Details

Founded: 1560s
Category: Palaces, manors and town halls in Italy