VICENZO SCAMOZZI

vicenzo scamozzi

Vincenzo Scamozzi (2 September 1548 – 7 August 1616) was an Italian architect and a writer on architecture, active mainly in Vicenza and Republic of Venice area in the second half of the 16th century. He was perhaps the most important figure there between Andrea Palladio, whose unfinished projects he inherited at Palladio's death in 1580, and Baldassarre Longhena, Scamozzi's only pupil. The great public project of Palladio's that Scamozzi inherited early in the process of construction was the Teatro Olimpico at Vicenza, which Palladio had designed in the last months of his life.

Biography

Scamozzi was born in Vicenza. His father was the surveyor and building contractor Gian Domenico Scamozzi; he was Scamozzi's first teacher, imbuing him with the principles of Sebastiano Serlio, laid out in Serlio's book. Vincenzo visited Rome in 1579-1580, and then moved to Venice in 1581. In 1600 he visited France and left a sketchbook record of his impressions of French architecture, which first saw the light of day in 1959.Franco Barbieri, ed. Taccuino di Viaggio da Parigi a Venezia (14 marzo-11 Maggio 1600) (Venice/Rome:Istituto per la Collaborazione Culturale), 1959. Scamozzi is famous for having inherited several unfinished projects from Andrea Palladio at the time of Palladio's death in 1580 and for bringing them to their completed form.

"The Idea of a Universal Architecture"

Scamozzi's influence spread far beyond his Italian commissions through his two-volume treatise, L’Idea dell’Architettura Universale ("The Idea of a Universal Architecture"), which is one of the last works of the Renaissance dealing with the theory of architecture.Vincenzo Scamozzi. The Idea of a Universal Architecture. English translation published in Amsterdam (2003). It was originally published with woodcut illustrations at Venice in 1615. Scamozzi depended for sections of his treatment of Vitruvius on Daniele Barbaro's commentary, published in 1556 with illustrations by Palladio;Inigo Jones' library included Palladio, Scamozzi and Barbaro on Vitruvius. he also discussed issues of building practice. At that time, such treatises were becoming a vehicle for self-promotion. Scamozzi was aware of the potential value of publicity distributed through the established channels of the book trade and he included many of his own plans and elevations, as built, as they should have been built, and as idealized projects. His first book entitled 'Discorsi sopra L'antichita di Roma' (Venice: Ziletti, 1583) had been quickly cobbled together with some illustrated commentary on the ruins of Rome, assembled in "the space of a few of days." According to his preface to the volumes, the images were stock productions that already existed. Over half were copied from a volume published by Hieronymus Cock in Antwerp in 1551. Praecipua at the British Musueum His major book came out one year before his death and was too late to influence his own success. Scamozzi's practice is sometimes spoken of as being a source of the neo-Palladian architecture as it was introduced by Inigo Jones, another follower of Andrea Palladio's own example. Rudolf Wittkower referred to him as among "the intellectual father(s) of neo-classicism".

The well-known Piazza San Marco project

Scamozzi moved to Venice in 1581, where he had been invited to design the Procuratie Nuove on the Piazza San Marco itself. The Procuratie Nuove were a row of official housing for the Procuratorate of San Marco, presented as a unified palace front that continues the end facade of the Sansovino Library, with its arcaded ground floor and arch-headed windows of the first floor, but adding an upper floor to provide the necessary accommodation. In accomplishing this design, Scamozzi adapted a rejected project of Palladio's for a re-faced Doge's Palace, with colonnettes that flank the windows to support alternating triangular and arched pediments, upon which Scamozzi added reclining figures, to balance the richness of the Sansovinian decoration of the two lower floors. Eleven bays of this project were completed, and later were extended by Baldassare Longhena (Scamozzi's only pupil) to fill the whole south flank of the piazza.

Chronology of works

All but one of the following works are in the territory of the Republic of Venice:

1568-1575: Villa of Girolamo Ferramosca, Barbano di Grisignano di Zocco ( Province of Vicenza) (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi)
1569: Palazzo Godi, Vicenza (project, altered during later execution)
1572-1593: Palazzo Thiene Bonin Longare, Vicenza (reworked on a previous project by Palladio)
1574-1615: Villa of Leonardo Verlato, Villaverla (Vicenza)
1575: Palazzo Caldogno, Vicenza
1575-1578: Rocca Pisana (Vettor Pisani Villa), Lonigo (Vicenza)
1576-1579: Trissino-Trento (Pierfranceso Trissino Palace), Vicenza (with Gian Domenico Scamozzi)
1580: Villa of Francesco Priuli, Treville di Castelfranco Veneto ( Province of Treviso) (north wing)
1580-1584: Villa Nani Mocenigo, Canda ( Province of Rovigo)
1580-1592: Villa Capra "La Rotonda", near Vicenza (completed construction of Andrea Palladio's structure for Mario Capra, and added stables, not completed until 1620)
1581-1586: Church of San Gaetano Thiene, Padua
1581-1599: Procuratie Nuove, Piazza San Marco, Venice (continued with a different interior design by Francesco Smeraldi and completed in 1663 by Longhena)
1582: Palazzo Cividale, Vicenza attributed
1582-1591: Library of San Marco, Venice (completion of Jacopo Sansovino's design)
1584-1585: Teatro Olimpico, Vicenza (remodeling of structure designed by Andrea Palladio, wooden scene)
1587-1596: Library of San Marco, Venice (the vestibule, Antisala)
1588: Villa Cornaro, Poisolo, Treville di Castelfranco Veneto (Treviso) (reconstruction)
1588-1590: Teatro all'antica for Duke Vespasiano I Gonzaga, Sabbioneta ( Province of Mantova)
1590: Villa Contarini for Girolamo Contarini, Loreggia (Padua) (revised in construction)
1590-1595: Church of San Nicolò da Tolentino, Venice
1591-1593: Statuary of Venice Republic (museum), Venice
1591-1594: Monastery and Church of San Gaetano Thiene, Padua
1591-1595: Villa Cornaro for Girolamo Cornaro, Piombino Dese ( Province of Padua) (completion) attributed
1591-1597: Villa Duodo and Chapel of San Giorgio, Monselice (Padua)
1592-1616: Palace of Galeazzo Trissino al Corso, Vicenza
1594-1600: Villa of Valerio Bardellini, Monfumo
1596: Villa of Girolamo Ferretti on the Riviera del Brenta, Sambruson del Dolo (Venice)
1596-1597: Villa Cornaro for Girolamo Cornaro, Piombino Dese (Padua) (added stable wing)
1597: Villa Molin, Mandria, (Padua)
1597: Villa Priuli, Carrara (Padua)
1597-1598: Villa Godi, Sarmego di Grumolo delle Abbadesse (Vicenza)
1601: Palazzo del Bò, Padua (university facade)
1601-1606: San Giacomo di Rialto, Venice (altar of Scuola degli Orefici; with Girolamo Campagna)
1601-1636: San Lazzaro dei Mendicanti Church and Hospital, Venice
1604-1612: Cathedral of Sts. Rupert and Virgil, Salzburg, Austria (project; completed in 1614-28 by Santino Solari)
1605: Santi Giovanni e Paolo, Venice (sacristy door; with Alessandro Vittoria)
1605-1616: Villa Duodo, Monselice (Padua) (six chapels for Via Romana)
1607-1611: San Giorgio Maggiore (church), Venice (completion of Palladio's facade)
1607-1616: Villa Cornaro al Paradiso, Venice (twin pavilions)
1609: Domenico Trevisan Villa, San Donà di Piave
1609-1616: Palazzo Contarini degli Scrigni, Santrovaso on the Canal Grande, Venice
1610 Villa Contarini degli Scrigni detta Vigna Contarena (Este)
1614: Palazzo Loredan Vendramin Calergi, Venice (east wing; demolished in 1659 and rebuilt in 1660)

Travel Guide to Italy

History of the Veneto

History of Vicenza

HISTORY OF VICENZA 1700 TO 1970 Vicenza was a candidate to host the Council of Trent. The 16th century was the time of Andrea Palladio, who left many outstanding examples of his art with palaces and villas in the city's territory, which before Palladio's passage, was arguably the most downtrodden and esthetically lacking city of the Veneto. After 1797, under Napoleonic rule, it was made a duché grand-fief (not a grand duchy, but a hereditary (extinguished in 1896), nominal duchy, a rare honor reserved for French officials) within Napoleon's personal Kingdom of Italy for general Caulaincourt, also imperial Grand-Écuyer. After 1814, Vicenza passed to the Austrian Empire. In 1848, however, the populace rose against Austria, more violently then in any other Italian centre apart from Milan and Brescia (the city would receive the highest award for military valour for the courage displayed by revolutionaries in this period). As a part of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, it was annexed to Italy after the 3rd war of Italian independence. Vicenza's area was a location of major combat in both World War I (on the Asiago plateau) and World War II (a focal centre of the Italian resistance), and it was the most damaged city in Veneto by Allied bombings, including many of its monuments; the civil victims were over 2,000. After the end of the latter, what followed was a period of depression following the devasatation caused by two world conflicts. In the 1960s the whole central part of Veneto, witnessed a strong economic development caused by the emergence of small and medium family businessess, ranging in a vast array of products (that often emerged illegally) that paved the way for what would be known as the "miracolo del Nord-est" (Miracle of the North-east). In the following years, the economic development grew vertiginously. Huge industrial areas sprouted around the city, massive and disorganised urbanisation and employment of foreign immigrants increased.

Need Help Planning Your Italy Vacation

Italy is one of the most diverse places in the world to visit but there is more to the country then Venice, Florence, Roma, Cinque Terre and a couple of other top attractions. If you plan you days well and understand how to move around within the country you can a great cost effective vacation full of activity, history, culture, and great food and wine. Contact us to get the insights to travel in Italy. We offer: Travel Consultant- book time online for a web chat to answer your questions about traveling in Italy. Travel Planning - need help outlining and planning your adventure in Italy. Scheduled Tours - each month we lead a scheduled tour for those looking to join a small group to explore. Travel support: Bike Touring - routes, bike rental, bag transfers. Walking/Hiking Tours - routes, bag transfers. Booking assistance and suggested contacts.

For More Travel Planning Assistance

Travel Guide to Italy

History of the Veneto

History of Vicenza

HISTORY OF VICENZA 2 BC TO 800 Vicentia was settled by the Italic Euganei tribe and then by the Paleo- Veneti tribe in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. The Romans allied themselves with the Paleo-Veneti in their fight against the Celtic tribes that populated north-western Italy. The Roman presence in the area grew exponentially over time and the Paleo-Veneti (whose culture mirrored Etruscan and Greek values more so than Celtic ones) were gradually assimilated. In 157 BC, the city was a de facto Roman centre and was given the name of Vicetia or Vincentia, meaning "victorious". The population of Vicentia received Roman citizenship in 49 BC. The city had some importance as a way-station on the important road from Mediolanum (Milan) to Aquileia, near Tergeste (Trieste), but it was overshadowed by its neighbor Patavium ( Padua). Little survives of the Roman city, but three of the bridges across the Bacchiglione and Retrone rivers are of Roman origin, and isolated arches of a Roman aqueduct exist outside the Porta Santa Croce. During the decline of the Western Roman Empire, Heruls, Vandals, Alaric and his Visigoths, as well as the Huns laid waste to the area, but the city recovered after the Ostrogoth conquest in 489 AD, before passing to Byzantine rule soon after. It was also an important Lombard city and then a Frankish centre. Numerous Benedictine monasteries were built in the Vicenza area, beginning in the 6th century.

Need Help Planning Your Italy Vacation

For More Travel Planning Assistance

Travel Guide to Italy

History of the Veneto

History of Vicenza

HISTORY OF VICENZA 900 TO 1500 In 899, Vicenza was destroyed by Magyar raiders. In 1001, Otto III handed over the government of the city to the bishop, and its communal organization had an opportunity to develop, separating soon from the episcopal authority. It took an active part in the League with Verona and, most of all, in the Lombard League (1164–1167) against Emperor Frederick I Barbarossa compelling Padua and Treviso to join: its podestà, Ezzelino II il Balbo, was captain of the league. When peace was restored, however, the old rivalry with Padua, Bassano, and other cities was renewed, besides which there were the internal factions of the Vivaresi ( Ghibellines) and the Maltraversi ( Guelphs). The tyrannical Ezzelino III from Bassano drove the Guelphs out of Vicenza, and caused his brother, Alberico, to be elected podestà (1230). The independent commune joined the Second Lombard League against Emperor Frederick II, and was sacked by that monarch (1237), after which it was annexed to Ezzelino's dominions. On his death the old oligarchic republic political structure was restored a consiglio maggiore ("grand council") of four hundred members and a consiglio minore ("small council") of forty members and it formed a league with Padua, Treviso and Verona. Three years later the Vicentines entrusted the protection of the city to Padua, so as to safeguard republican liberty; but this protectorate quickly became dominion, and for that reason Vicenza in 1311 submitted to the Scaligeri lords of Verona, who fortified it against the Visconti of Milan. Vicenza came under rule of Venice in 1404, and its subsequent history is that of Venice. It was besieged by the Emperor Sigismund, and Maximilian I held possession of it in 1509 and 1516.

Need Help Planning Your Italy Vacation

For More Travel Planning Assistance

Travel Guide to Italy

History of the Veneto

The Ruling Family of Ezzelino II

EZZELINO II DA ROMANO Ezzelino II da Romano, also known as Ezzelino il Monaco ("Ezzelino the Monk"; died 1235) was an Italian nobleman of the Ezzelini family, who was lord of Onara (until 1199), Romano, Bassano and Godego. The son of Ezzelino I, in 1182 he fought for lands belonging to the monks of a monastery in Sesto al Reghena. On 24 April 1198 Pope Innocent III asked Pellegrinus II, Patriarch of Aquileia, to resolve the matter and to raise the excommunication which Ezzelino had received from the patriarch of Grado. In 1191-1193 Ezzelino was podestà of Treviso, and later of Verona (1200) and Vicenza (1211). In 1199 his castle at Onara was destroyed by the Paduans after Ezzelino had signed a separate peace with Vicenza; he therefore moved the family residence to Romano,by which name his family would be known in the following decades. In 1209-1210 he was among the followers of emperor Otto IV, who gave him possession of Bassano (1211). In 1212 Ezzelino II clashed near Verona with the troops of the Lombard League; the latter was defeated and its commander, Azzo VI d'Este, perished. In 1213 he fought with Padua against the Estensi and, the following year, against the Venetians. In 1221 Ezzelino retreated into a monastery at Oliero in Valstagna and then at Campese, hence his surname of Monaco ("monk"), leaving the administration of the fiefs to his sons Ezzelino and Alberico da Romano. His daughter Cunizza da Romano was married to Riccardo di San Bonifacio, lord of Verona. He died in the monastery of Campese in 1235.

Need Help Planning Your Italy Vacation

For More Travel Planning Assistance

VICENZO SCAMOZZI

Biography

"The Idea of a Universal Architecture"

The well-known Piazza San Marco project

Chronology of works

More Articles ...

follow us

EXPLORING THE OUTDOORS

TRAVEL ITALY